Into Infinity - Avengers: Infinity War (Thanos Love Story)
by FantasyandHistory
Summary: "The entire time I knew him, he only ever had one goal..." Or so they thought... (LokiXSigyn, BuckyXOC, T'ChallaXOC, Steven StrangeXOC, eventual ThanosXOC) Full summary inside!
1. My Characters

Hello and welcome to my 'Avengers: Infinity War' story! This one has been in the works for a while but I can't wait any longer to start it because I'm so excited! :D And if you're reading any of my other Marvel-based stories, this shouldn't spoil too much for those, and nor do you need to read those to understand this one, but I would recommend it!

Full Summary:

 **"The entire time I knew him, he only ever had one goal..." Or so they thought...**

 **Perhaps Thanos needed to retrieve all six Infinity Stones to complete his mission of balancing the universe, but he also needed them for something else: to reawaken the keeper of the stones themselves. And she could be the Avengers greatest ally, or their deadliest enemy...**

 **Will feature all of my Marvel OCs, from Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy! (LokiXOC, BuckyXOC, T'ChallaXOC, Steven StrangeXOC, eventual ThanosXOC)**

I do not own 'Infinity War', all rights to Marvel! I do, however, own my characters and any plot points/storylines that I have made up for them. Thanks and enjoy! :)

* * *

My Characters

This story features my following OCs:

-Lady Sigyn of Asgard (my version of her!)- _Thor_ storyline

Goddess of Fidelity and Fertility. Love and best friend of Loki, friend of Thor.

-Agent Karen Granger/Spark - _Captain America_ storyline

Founder of SHIELD, former SHIELD agent, girlfriend of Bucky Barnes. Lived many years under the name Agent Liv Sword.

-Princess Kalyna of Sokovia/Firebird - _Black Panther_ storyline

Ruler of Sokovia which is allied with Wakanda. An enhanced being known as the Firebird. Love of King T'Challa.

-Master Ekaterina - _Doctor Strange_ storyline

Master of the Mystic Arts. Ally, mentor, and girlfriend of Steven Strange. Formerly blinded, anxious about the scars around her eyes.

-Envydora 'Envy' - _Guardians of the Galaxy_ storyline

While Gamora may be the favourite daughter, Envy is Thanos's prized weapon and often personal guard. She is an orange-skinned alien. Later rebels and joins the Guardians along with her sisters.

-Agent Yelena Belova/Black Widow (my version of her!) - _Black Widow_ / _Avengers_ storyline

Another Black Widow who was raised in the Red Room alongside Natasha. Always competitive between them.

And...

-Adonia, Lady Infinity - _Avengers_ storyline

Keeper of the Infinity Stones, an Elder of the universe, one of the most powerful beings in the universe and reality. Close friend of Taneleer Tivan and En Dwi Gast, the Collector and the Grandmaster. Love of Thanos. Could be the Avengers greatest ally, or their deadliest enemy...

 _So if anyone is also reading my 'Black Panther' story, you'll know that I cast the wonderful Gal Gadot as my OC from that story, Kalyna, who is also apart of this story. As you'll discover as you read this story, all these characters bear a resemblance to one another, and I imagine that if they were in the movies the same actress would play all of them. I didn't originally picture Gal playing all of these characters, but I'm also not sure who I picture playing them, so imagine them how you like! :)_


	2. Destiny Arrives

Part One

 _Into Infinity_

Destiny still arrives...

* * *

One - Destiny Arrives

" _This is the Asgardian refugee vessel - we are under assault - this is not a war ship ... Requesting aid immediately..._ "

The distress call crackled and then faded completely, absorbed by space.

The deck of the ship was littered with the dead, people saved from the doom of Ragnarok, only to meet their end at the hands of:

"Here me and rejoice, as you meet your death at the hands of Thanos. You may think this is suffering, but no, this is salvation..." One of the Titan's minions, a tall, slim figure with wrinkled grey skin, wandered amongst the bodies, stepping over them as if they were merely something small in his path.

"I know what it's like to lose..." The Mad Titan himself, the towering figure at the front of the ship declared. "I have suffered many losses in my long lifetime..."

Sigyn didn't know if he was speaking solely to Loki or them all as a whole.

Thanos continued, turning to face them and striding forward. "I know what it's like to feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail all the same-" His eyes fell on her and he suddenly broke his monologue. Sigyn didn't like his pressing gaze on her, especially not the recognition that flashed for a moment in his dark eyes. He quickly regained composure however, and continued. "Destiny still arrives, always. And now it's here. Or, should I say, I am..." He effortlessly picked up one of the bodies with one hand. Sigyn's heart leapt - Thor! He looked awful, barely clinging to life himself.

She couldn't help but tremble with fear under the hulking Titan's gaze - she could feel the power of his follower's spear at her back, a warning to her of what would be waiting were she to try anything. She turned to Loki, who was giving her a sympathetic yet hopeful look. He was surrounded by the other two members of Thanos's Black Order - having failed Thanos last time, they were sure to keep an eye on him this time. That, and he was the God of Mischief of course. And thank the gods for that.

She knew it hadn't been just Loki to have done all he had. His betrayal of Asgard had all been under torture and control of this group, while fueled by the betrayal he felt from his own family after learning he was, in fact, adopted. He had showed her his memories the other night, allowed her a glimpse of what he had suffered. She wanted to kill this Thanos for what he had done to him.

Loki reached out to lace his fingers comfortingly with her own, only to have them both wrenched further apart by their captors.

"How sweet," mocked the lone female follower guarding Sigyn, hissing in her ear with her gravelly voice. The tall one with a hood and his face long and skull-like holding his spear to Loki chuckled.

"We don't have the Tesseract," Thor choked out from where he hung limply from the Titan's grasp, blood splattering from his lips. "It was destroyed on Asgard."

"The Tesseract, or your brother's head-" Thanos ignored him and held his gauntlet-covered fist against Thor's temple, instead addressing Loki. "-I assume you have a preference."

"Oh I do. Kill away." Loki grinned.

"Loki!" Sigyn hissed, however, this was quickly drowned out by Thor's agonized cries as Thanos used the Power Stone to torture him. Loki remained firm however - he must have had some sort of plan. He wouldn't really let Thor die... His calmness still surprised her.

Thanos paused in blasting Thor's head, seeing as he still had elicited no response from the God of Mischief. "No?"

Then Thanos did something that was obviously not according to Loki's plan, whatever plan that was: he turned and nodded to his female follower, who in turn held her spear to Sigyn's head and pressed down, and Thanos returned his fist to Thor's, and both began to torture their captives.

A trickle of blood was now dripping down Sigyn's face. She bit back a scream. "Loki no!" Unlike Thor, she knew of the obtained Tesseract. But her cry only earned the blade pressed further against her head, this causing a scream.

His brother's and friend's screams filled the broken ship and caused Loki to snap. "Alright STOP!"

They did so. Thanos smiled at the dark-haired god's obvious pain.

Reluctantly, Loki bowed his head and held out his hand, the desired blue cube appearing in his palm, the magic cloaking fading away.

Thor cursed. "You really are the worst, Brother."

"I promise you, the sun will shine on us again, Brother," Loki assured him.

Thanos approached. "Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian." He spat out the word.

"Perhaps," Loki chuckled. "But for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another, we have the Hulk-"

"RAWR!" Perfectly on cue, Hulk jumped out of the shadows and took out the armoured Titan. Loki dove in and grabbed Sigyn, both reaching in and dragging the limp Thor from where Thanos had dropped him when being attacked by Hulk, moving away from the fight as both creatures pummeled each other.

"Are you alright?!" Loki cupped her face in his hands. He cursed himself - Thanos was clever, he should have known the Titan would sense he and Sigyn's connection and use that to his advantage and against them.

"Y-yes." She was obviously shaken, and blood still dripped down the side of her face. "Thor?" They received a grunt in response.

The element of surprise certainly helped Hulk gain the upper hand against Thanos. However, the Titan proved to be a formidable foe, even for Hulk.

Sigyn winced as Thanos brought his knee to Hulk's face, knocking him down.

"Allfathers, please hear me. Allow the dark energy to flow through me, one last time..." A shaky voice brought their attention over to where Heimdall lay amongst the dead, injured himself. He held out his hand and used the last of his power to cast the Bifrost and carry the wounded Hulk away.

Thanos regarded the Gatekeeper through piercing dark eyes. Taking one of his follower's spears he, without a word, plunged it through Heimdall's chest.

"NO!" yelled Thor. Sigyn screamed as they both watched the life drain from their friend's eyes.

"You're going to die for that!" threatened Thor. He and Sigyn lunged forward, he snapping a piece of metal against Thanos's back, and she lashing out with her branches, only to be thrown back. This was met by the mere flick of the wrist of the grey-skinned follower, this causing a bunch of broken metal to wrap around Thor's body and mouth to restrain him. The alien seemed even more amused when he tightly bound Sigyn in her own branches and vines, using her powers against her.

"Shhh..." The skinny alien held a ringed finger up to his wrinkled lips. Then he swept down and retrieved the Tesseract from where it had been dropped, lowering himself down onto one knee and holding the glowing blue cube up to his master. "My Lord, the Space Stone. At long last, it is yours."

Thanos came forward, still shaking off his battle with Hulk, and removed the chest-plate and helmet of his armour. He plucked the cube from his follower's hand and crushed it - revealing a small blue, oval-shaped stone at the centre. Taking it between two of his large fingers he placed it on the next finger on his Infinity Gauntlet, beside the purple Power Stone. There was a flash as the stone was sucked into the gauntlet, joining its sibling stone.

The Mad Titan grinned greedily. "There are two more stones on Earth. Find them, My Children."

All four followers knelt and bowed. "Father, we shall not fail you..."

"If I may interject-" Loki stepped forward with purpose. "If you're going to Earth you may want a guide. I have some experience in that field." Thor and Sigyn were groaning in protest to this, both still confined.

Thanos scrutinized him. "If you consider failure experience."

"I consider experience experience," Loki retorted. He swept forward in a bow. "All-mighty Thanos, I, Loki of Jotunheim, Prince of Asgard, Odinson... Swear to you my undying fidelity." He glanced Thor and Sigyn's way when he said this. And only they could see the dagger appear in his hand - or so he thought.

When he lunged forward to plunge the blade into the neck of their attacker, his whole body froze, bathed in the blue light of the recently-obtained Space Stone.

"Undying?" chuckled Thanos. "You really should choose your words more carefully." With that he seized Loki by the throat, his large fist clamping down and lifting the young god into the air. Loki struggled against his hold, but it was no use.

For once, Loki let his fear show. "You - will never - be - a - god," he choked out.

Thanos said nothing, but smirked and tightened his fist. There was a sickening _crack_ as Loki's neck snapped. His body now hung limp and lifeless from the Titan's grip until Thanos threw him upon the ground, discarding him along with the other dead. "No resurrections this time."

There was a moment of stunned, piercing silence before Thor and Sigyn both began to scream, Thor's muffled by the metal and Sigyn's muffled by the branches. However, her screams quickly became wails, tears already overflowing from her eyes. The branches shattered to splinters, releasing the enraged goddess from their hold.

"Sigyn no!" Thor's shout was too muffled to hear, but he yelled anyways. However, she was already lunging forward, lashing out at the Titan with her daggers. "MURDEROUS, TORTUROUS WRETCH! And you'll die for that!"

The Titan merely plucked her up by her neck, un-phased by her outburst, hoisting her in the air just as he had with Loki.

He studied her face. "You resemble someone very dear to me," he said. "Remind me of her. It almost hurts me to kill you."

"Then I beg you, go ahead," she hissed. She felt the pressure around her neck tighten, slowly and painfully cutting off the air, and waited for his fist to close completely.

" _Almost_ hurts me." With that he dropped her, she collapsing in a gasping heap on the deck. "Don't worry, you'll join your dearly beloved very soon, Goddess of Fidelity. Besides, you should be used to this by now."

He raised his gauntlet-covered fist, and in a flash of blue cast a portal around him and his followers, sending purple energy pulsing through the ship just before Thanos the Mad Titan and his Black Order disappeared, leaving the ship to explode.

Sigyn crawled over to where Loki's body lay. His neck was bent at an odd angle but she tried not to focus on that. She smoothed his hair away from his face. "Loki? Loki, look at me. Look at me, please. Y-you promised no more illusions, b-but, please, just this once - just one more time-" Her words quickly dissolved into sobs and she buried her face in his chest, clinging to him, heaving heavy sobs.

She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder, the other coming to rest on Loki's chest. "Oh, Brother," Thor sobbed as he held them both as they waited for death to engulf them.

The last of Sigyn's wails faded as the purple energy from the stone surrounded them and the ship burst into nothing.

 _Finally the first chapter is here! But ah man... He was dead within the first ten minutes of the movie... Sorry for making you all relive that, it was hard to write, especially since Loki's my favourite! But I figured if anyone was going to really kill him, it would be Thanos - however, I still hold onto hope that he will reappear in Avengers 4! ;) Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Please let me know what you think! :)_


	3. Thanos is Coming!

Two - Thanos is Coming!

 _New York City - Earth_

"Have fun on your date you two!" called Wong.

"Thanks, Wong." Stephen and Kat, dressed in more civilian clothes instead of their usual tunics, robes, and cloaks, headed down the stairs towards the door of the Sanctum.

Kat already had her sunglasses on and they hadn't even left the building.

"Hey, hey-" Stephen stopped her. "We talked about this."

She sighed. "I know. It's just - in the Sanctum and at the Compound is one thing, but out there..." Her words trailed off.

"Hey, what are you always telling me? You learn to overcome your scars, and then you accept them and-"

"Wear them proudly." Their words overlapped. Both smiled.

"Hey, says you, hiding your hands in your pockets," she scolded.

He drew his scarred hands from his pockets and held them up in surrender. "No hiding. No pockets, and no glasses."

She couldn't help but smile a little. "Alright Strange, you've convinced me." She folded up the sunglasses and left them on a little table by the door.

"Well I can be very persuasive." He winked.

"Uh huh." They shared a kiss.

Then he took her hand. She ran her thumb gently over his scarred knuckles. "So, where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. I have been feeling like Shawarma-"

 _SMASH!_

The sudden intrusion on the Sanctum caused the three Masters to leap into action. Stephen and Kat's civilian clothes quickly faded away, replaced by their traditional tunics and cloaks. They approached the large hole created by the crash, casting defense spells.

"Thanos is coming!" The green figure who had crash-landed was fading away to reveal none other than Dr. Bruce Banner.

The Masters exchanged a glance. "Who?"

"Tell me his name again." Tony Stark now stood in the Sanctum, after Bruce's request.

"Thanos. He's a plague, Tony, he invades planets, he takes what he wants, and then wipes out half the population. He sent Loki, the attack on New York, that was him."

Tony absorbed this. "So this is it. What it's all been leading to."

Wong opened a very large, very old book and began to read aloud while Kat cast an image into the air to go along with his explanation. "At the dawn of the universe: nothing. Then, the Big Bag sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe. The Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

"Space, reality, power, soul, mind," Kat listed, highlighting the respective stones in her cast image as she spoke: blue, red, purple, orange, yellow.

"And time." Stephen waved his fingers before the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Stone glowed with green life.

"What's our timeline looking like?" Stark asked Bruce.

"There's no telling. He already has the Space and Power Stones, which only makes him the strongest creature in the universe! If he gets his hands on all six Stones, T-Tony..." Bruce broke off, trembling.

"Dr. Banner, would you like to sit down?" Kat put a gentle arm around the traumatized man's shoulders and guided him to take a seat on the couch.

"If Thanos were to obtain all the Stones he could destroy the universe at a scale hitherto undreamt of," Stephen finished.

"Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreamt of?" Stark leaned on a metal structure to stretch.

"Did you seriously just lean on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" Cloak was obviously as shocked as Stephen for moments later, it reached out and smacked Stark's hand down.

"What's your job again?" Stark questioned after a moment of shocked silence.

"Protecting your reality, douchebag," Steven retorted.

Now Stark was staring at Kat. "Can I help you?" she inquired.

He pointed at her. "You don't happen to have a twin, do you?"

"No, I do not."

"Hmm. Cause we know someone who looks a lot like you."

"Yeah, Sigyn," piped up Banner.

"Who?"

"She's Thor's friend, she looks like her too. Oh, but you mean Liv."

"Karen," Tony corrected. "She's actually not Liv."

"What?"

The three Masters all exchanged a very confused glance.

Tony continued, back on track on the last subject. "Well if Thanos needs all six why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?" He nodded to the Eye.

"No can do." Steven shook his head firmly.

"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives," Wong spoke for the three.

"And protect it we shall," added Kat.

"Well, I swore off dairy, but then 'Ben and Jerry's' named a flavour after me so... Things change."

"Our oath to protect the Stone cannot change," Stephen stated firmly. "It could be our best chance against Thanos."

"And, conversely, it could be _his_ best chance against _us_ ," Stark countered.

"Look, the main thing is is that we have this Stone, we know where it is," Bruce continued to ramble. But this was understandable, considering all the guy had been through. "Thanos already has the Power and Space Stones. We don't know where the Reality and Soul Stones are, and Time is here and Mind is with Vision. He's out there somewhere and we need to find him now-"

"Yeah, about that..." Everyone turned to Stark. " Vision turned off his tracker about two weeks ago."

"What?!"

"He's offline."

"Tony, you lost another superbot?!" cried Bruce.

"I didn't lose him. He's more than that, he's evolving."

"Well can you find him?"

"No."

"Tony, if you can't find him then who can?!"

Tony sighed. "Probably Steve Rogers."

"Well then call him!"

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't? It's Cap."

"Gosh, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we? Ha, spell, see what I did there?" Tony flashed a smile at the Masters before turning back to Bruce. " You _have_ missed a lot. Cap and I fell out hard. And the Avengers? We broke up."

Bruce gawked at him. "Broke up? L-like a band? Like the Beatles?"

"We aren't on speaking terms anymore."

"Tony, listen to me," Bruce pleaded. "Thanos is coming. Thor's gone, okay-"

"Gone?" cried Kat. Just weeks ago the God of Thunder himself had been here in the Sanctum searching for his father.

"Gone?" repeated Stark.

Bruce nodded sadly. "Thanos killed him. We're all that's left, okay. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."

Stark took a moment to absorb this news of his fallen teammate.

"Dr. Banner is right," agreed Kat. "If there's a time to reconnect with Captain Rogers, it's now."

Tony knew they were right. Everyone was staring at him expectantly. He hadn't even met this Thanos, but judging by how shaken up poor Bruce was and the deal with all these stones, they were going to need all the help they could get.

So, reaching into his pocket he withdrew the flip phone Steve had sent him. He was just opening it to dial when he stopped and glanced around. "Hey Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair just now, would you?" He gestured to the lock of Strange's hair that was blowing gently as if in a breeze.

Strange glanced around too. "Not at the moment..."

All five looked up at the same time to the giant hole in the roof where Banner had come smashing through. Dust and debris was flying around outside, and everyone suddenly became sharply aware of the distant, unfamiliar droning whir.

"H-hey that sound? Anybody else hear that?" Stark said, slowly moving towards the doorway of the Sanctum. "I-is it just me, or is it getting louder?"

"Definitely getting louder," agreed Strange.

That wasn't all that was getting louder. Car horns honking, shouting, and screams could be heard from out in the street. Stark opened the door to find complete and utter chaos. "H-hey Bruce? You said there was no telling our timeline, yeah?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, looks like this Thanos isn't wasting any time..."

 _Thank you so much for the 100+ reads on this story, and the favourites and follows, you all are amazing! :) Not to quote Thanos, but it really does put a smile on my face ;) haha, sorry, couldn't help it!_

 _Next up the awesome fight sequence in New York! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed (let me know what you think!)_

 _Also, I know I did the little character introduction part at the start, but if you want to see more of a glimpse of my OCs in the MCU storyline, I have 'Added Character' chapters in my Loki and Sigyn story, "All An Illusion". They were in an earlier draft so I haven't actually posted them on here, but that story is coming to an end so I thought I'd add those chapters in at the end, or create a separate story for them. They introduce you to Karen/Liv and Kat, and then my Loki story and 'Black Panther' stories introduce you to Sigyn and Kalyna :) just thought I'd mention that in case you want some more context/backstory with my characters (sorry if all the look-alikes are a little confusing so far, it'll all come together and make sense I promise!) Thanks!_


	4. More Aliens in New York

Three - More Aliens in New York

 _New York City - Earth_

"Hey Doc! You might want to put that Time Stone thing in your back pocket!" Stark began giving evacuation orders to FRIDAY as he went the opposite way of where everyone was fleeing from, searching for the source of all the commotion.

"Might want to use it!" Stephen cast a spell, intricate symbols appearing at his fingertips.

Up ahead and around the corner they came across the source, the big source: a giant, round spaceship was slowly descending to the streets.

With a wave of his hands Stephen sent the debris and dust flying up from the ship back towards it, sending Stark a wink who rolled his eyes.

A beam of light shot down from the ship, two alien figures descending down, one big and hulking, the other slender and tall, but both very sinister. The group cautiously approached the invaders. Everyone who had been on the street had fled, now leaving it a chaotic deserted.

"What is it with aliens and New York?" Stark muttered.

"Those are a couple of Thanos's minions," Bruce informed them.

"Earthlings, hear me and rejoice," the tall, skinny alien standing at the front announced. The tall, menacing creature beside him growled and swung the massive club in his hands as if for emphasis. "Your meaningless lives will soon be ended by the Children of Thanos-"

"He's got kids?" asked Tony.

"-Be thankful that you are now contributing to the-"

"Uh, I'm sorry," Stark broke into his monologue. "But Earth is closed today! You'd better pack it up and get out of here."

"Stonekeeper, does this chattering animal speak for you?" now the alien addressed Stephen.

"Definitely not I speak for myself." He turned to Kat. "So much for our date."

"Yeah." The two cast a spell. "Time to live up to our oath."

"There will be no trespassing on this planet," called Stephen.

"It means get lost, Squidward!" put in Stark.

"They exhaust me. Get the Stone," the slender alien said to his hulking companion, the latter of which growled and drove the giant club in his hand into the ground, smashing the concrete. Then he began approaching, using the club to bash cars out of the way and it became clear that they were the intended end target of that club.

"Hey Banner, you want a piece?" said Stark.

"Not really, no, but when do I ever get what I want?"

"That's it. You're up."

"Okay..." Bruce clapped his hands together and started to shift. His face turned green for a few moments, but then faded. He was obviously struggling.

"It's been a while. It'll be good to have you buddy," Tony encouraged.

"Yeah..."

"Anytime now, Bro."

"Yeah just, shh, I just need to concentrate here for a second..."

The alien was getting closer, still smashing away cars with his club.

"Where's your guy?" asked Tony.

"Yeah, I know, I'm trying, it's just Hulk and I seem to be having a thing lately."

"A thing? No, there's no time for a thing. That's a thing right there," Tony cried, pointing to the giant creature approaching them. "So come on, let's go."

Bruce let out a groan and tried to shift again. Half his face turned green.

"We don't have time for this!" hissed Kat over Banner's groaning. "That looks painful."

"It is!"

"It's painful to watch," she said.

Bruce tried again, but to no avail. He still remained un-shifted.

Tony sighed. "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."

"I'm sorry, I'm trying!"

"Well try harder!"

"I'm trying!"

"Okay fine. It's okay, it's fine, just stand down." He patted Bruce's shoulder. "Take care of him, please," he said to Wong.

Then he stepped forward, tapping his arc reactor, and his suit gathered all across his body.

The creature was directly before them now, and threw a swing with his club. Tony sent a blast from his fist, knocking the creature back.

"Where did that come from?!" cried Bruce.

"It's nanotech, you like it?"

"Very fancy, Stark. You might want to use it!" called Kat.

"Yeah, almost as fancy as your magic."

As Stark turned back to the aliens, Stephen turned to Bruce. "Dr. Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us-" He made a circular motion in the air with his hand and swallowed Bruce up in a portal, sending him away from the fight before turning back to it himself. Time to live up to their oath.

"You've got to get that Time Stone out of here, now," called Stark.

"It's stays with me," Stephen insisted.

"Yeah, exactly. Bye!" With that, Stark flew off.

"Did he just-" cried Kat.

"Yeah..."

However, Stark's leave may not have been as selfish as they had first thought, for the larger alien with the club went after him, leaving the Master's to face the skinny alien, who seemed to have telepathic power.

The Masters blocked what he threw at them with their spells. When they sent something back and it struck him, the alien gave a growl and threw Wong down the street.

"Wong!" Kat rushed to help him while Stephen took on the alien. When she came back she found the alien had knocked Stephen unconscious and was taking him back up to the ship.

"I told you your powers are nothing compared to mine," she caught the alien sneering at Stephen's unconscious form.

"We'll see about that," she mumbled. Silently casting a quick spell, she was taken under it and made invisible, the alien unaware that she was now following them aboard the ship.

Meanwhile, over in Central Park, Stark, Banner, and Wong continued the fight with the larger alien. The monster was relentless, even though they weren't the ones with the Stone.

Tony was currently taking on the alien. The creature swung it's club - but it was stopped before it hit him.

"Hey Mr. Stark!"

 _Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) Next up, the Guardians!_


	5. Distress Call

* **Quick note:** I decided to post a small prequel of sorts to this story featuring my OCs to give you some context. I haven't cut the awesome entrance for the Guardians from 'Infinity War', I just moved it to there, so you might want to quickly go read the short 'Guardians Vol. 2' chapter in 'Before Infinity' before reading this chapter to set the scene (sorry, it was a last-minute decision, I should really outline my stories before writing, haha!) Thanks and enjoy!*

Four - Distress Call

 _Space_

The Milano and crew soared through the skies, music filling the ship as usual as they followed the distress signal. This time, however, no one was singing and dancing.

"Peter, will you please turn off the music," Gamora finally requested.

"Yeah, I'm feeling that too." Peter flicked off the music. "I was just trying to, you know, lighten the mood..."

The group sat in unusual silence. Everyone was still pretty shaken up about hearing of Xandar's fall. It was so sudden, so unexpected.

"Okay Guardians, we're coming up on our target," Quill announced some long, silent minutes later, breaking the strange silence. "Remember, this might be dangerous so let's put on our mean faces."

Before anyone could say anything else, they reached their location.

"My God-" Quill mumbled.

"What happened here?" piped up Mantis. "Are all these people - _dead?_ "

The whole area surrounding them was littered with dead bodies, floating in space, along with debris of what must have been their ship.

Gamora and Envy exchanged a knowing glance - Thanos. The sisters had begun to suspect as much concerning the fall of Xandar as well.

"Yikes," muttered Rocket. Drax was alert as ever. Even Groot looked up from his game.

 _Crash!_ Suddenly, one of the bodies floated forward and struck their ship, landing on the windshield. It was a man in battle armour.

"Ah!"

"Get it off!"

Before anyone could do anything, another body, that of a young woman, came and landed on the man's body, pressing him further against the window.

"Ahh!"

"Somebody do something!"

One of the supposedly-dead man's eyes slid open.

"AHHH!"

Minutes later, they had stopped the ship and brought both bodies aboard. Rocket sniffed them.

Mantis, who had a hand resting on each of their foreheads, gasped. "They are not dead!"

"What? How could they still be alive?"

Envy was peering down at the rescued woman. "Is it just me or does this woman bear a striking resemblance to myself?"

"No, not at all," said Drax, completely serious. "She is fair-skinned, and you are orange-skinned. And she wears armour."

Envy gave him a look of, _you don't say_.

"No, Envy's right," agreed Gamora, coming to join her sister at the woman's side. "There's actually quite a resemblance." This was true - despite the obvious difference in skin colour and clothing, the two women had the same build, same height, and same features. Both even had variations of red hair. It was an obvious, rather striking resemblance.

"Yeah, weird," remarked Quill.

"Very weird," agreed Envy, nodding.

Mantis placed her hand on the man's forehead. "He is anxious and angry. He feels tremendous loss and guilt."

"Well, let's find out what he's so angry about," said Quill. "Wake him up."

Before Mantis could work her magic, the man shot up, startling everyone, and jumped off the table. Everyone reached for their weapons.

"Who the hell are you guys?" he demanded.

"More like, who the hell are you?" Everyone turned to Quill. "What? It's a classic comeback."

"The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal: to wipe out half the universe," explained Gamora, after the Guardians had settled on that the man, Thor, and his friend were not enemies, only more of Thanos's victims. "He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre."

"Including my own," spoke up Drax solemnly.

"And mine," stated Thor.

"And we used to help him," added Envy softly.

"If he gets all the Infinity Stones he could do it with a snap of his fingers-" Gamora snapped. "-Just like that."

"You seem to know a great deal about this Thanos," Thor remarked. It turned out that Thor, King of Asgard, and his people had been travelling to Earth when their ship was ambushed and viciously attacked by Thanos.

There was silence amongst the Guardians until Drax spoke up. "Gamora is the daughter of Thanos."

"Dude!" cried Quill.

"And Envy too."

"Drax!"

"Shut up!"

"What?" Drax asked, completely oblivious. "He wondered, so I told him the truth."

Thor was now approaching the green and orange-skinned women. "Your father killed my brother."

"Oh boy," said Rocket. Groot was once again too busy with his game.

"Uh, hey, hey, wait!" Quill cried, trying to stall Thor, who looked ready to attack. "Stepfather, actually. They hate him as much as you do - we all do!"

But it turned out that Thor meant no harm. He only reached out and placed a supportive hand on each of the women's shoulders. "Families can be tough, can't they? I mean me, I have a brother who turned out to be adopted and my father never told us. And then, right before he died, my father told us that we had a half-sister, the Goddess of Death, who he imprisoned in Hel, who stabbed me in the eye and who we had to kill. But that's life, though, right? I feel your pain."

"Well I feel your pain as well, you know," interjected Quill. He had been particularly displeased with Thor's kind hand on Gamora's shoulder.

But he was interrupted. "No, no, no..."

Their attention was caught by a new voice, that of the unconscious young woman, who was, evidently, coming back to consciousness, her words becoming more and more a sob.

Thor quickly fled to her side. "Sigyn? Sigyn, it's alright, I'm here."

Her eyelids slowly fluttered open. "Thor? W-where are we?"

"It's alright, we're safe now. These are the Guardians, they rescued us."

"Well, more like you crashed into our ship, but sure, we rescued you," said Rocket.

The realization settled upon her. "No!" She was suddenly on her feet, palms pressed against the window. "No, no! We can still save them, all of them! No!" She beat a fist against the glass.

"Sigyn," Thor said gently, trying to sooth her. "There's nothing more we can do, they're all gone I'm afraid. Loki's gone..."

"H-he comes back, he always comes back to us," she cried. "But he's not coming back this time, is he?"

Thor shook his head. "No, not this time."

 _Loki :.( I'm really hoping he'll come back! ;) But yay the Guardians are here, haha! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	6. Split Up!

Five - Split Up!

 _Space_

A relationship rekindled, only to be broken again. Perhaps that was their legacy.

Sigyn pressed her lips together to try and stifle a sob. When that failed, she buried her face in her hands and gave in, Thor taking her weeping figure into his arms. "Every time we just get him back he's snatched away from us again."

"Come, meet my new friends," Thor soothed. "This is Rabbit and Tree, Mantis, Drax. Quall, was it?"

Quill glowered. "It's Quill, Peter Quill. Star-Lord. And this is the Milano and I'm it's Captain-"

"And this is Gamora and Envy," Thor finished.

"Daughters of Thanos."

"DRAX!"

"Daughters - of _Thanos?_ " A look of pure disgust crossed Sigyn's face and she withdrew her daggers, prepared to charge.

Luckily, Thor jumped in front of her. "No! They're adopted, they escaped from him. They're just as much his victims as we are."

The rage fell from her face and she lowered her weapons. "Oh - f-forgive me..." Though she still seemed a little wary of the sisters. That and she was still startled from suddenly waking up here.

"It's okay, it wouldn't be the first time," Gamora assured her.

"Yeah, we've been over this already, you were still asleep," Quill told her.

"We are terribly sorry for your loss," Envy sympathized.

Sigyn looked at her, really looked at her, without the filter of rage. "Oh, no," she mumbled, gripping Thor's arm. "Not another one."

"This has happened before?" the orange-skinned woman asked, after exchanging a glance with her sister.

"It would be one thing if we knew what it meant," Sigyn continued to Thor. "But we don't."

At this, Gamora turned away.

"This, look-alike?" Envy pressed. "You know something?"

"Yes." Sigyn nodded. "Has anyone ever told you that you remind them of someone?" Envy nodded. "Do they ever tell you who it is you remind them of?"

The other woman shook her head. "No, no just that I remind them of someone-"

"-Someone they used to know." The two finished together.

There was silence.

"Well, for me it's usually people who are trying to hunt me down and kill me."

"Oh." Now Sigyn and Thor exchanged a glance. "Why?"

Envy shrugged. "I don't know. I always just assumed it was because I am a daughter of Thanos."

That was all either of them knew about it. Sigyn sat off in a quiet corner of the ship, sharpening her daggers. Groot came over, setting down his game. He sat beside her and held out his hand, a small flower growing at his fingertips.

Sigyn couldn't help but smile and held up her own hand, also growing a flower.

"I am Groot."

"Thank you, Groot."

There was beeping from the other end of the ship as Thor seemed to be trying to open something by punching in a code.

"Uh, what are you doing?" questioned Rocket.

"I'm taking your pod."

Quill cleared his throat and then announced in an exaggeratedly deep voice, "No you will not. You will not be taking our pod today, sir."

"Uh, Quill? Are you making your voice deeper?" asked Rocket. It was completely obvious that Quill was trying to imitate Thor.

"No."

"You are, you're imitating the god-man," stated Drax. "It's weird."

"I am not-"

"He just did it again!" cried Mantis.

"This is my voice!"

"No it's not!"

Thor approached Quill, staring down at him. "Are you mocking me?"

"Are you mocking _me?_ "

"Are you?"

"He's trying to copy me-"

"Enough!" shouted Gamora. "We're wasting time. We need to stop Thanos. Which means we need to find out where he's going to strike next."

"Knowhere," answered Thor.

"He must be going somewhere," said Mantis.

"No, Knowhere, we've been there. It sucks," said Quill.

"Thor, why would he go there?" asked Gamora.

"Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man called the Collector."

"If it's with him then it's definitely not safe, only an idiot would leave it with him," stated Quill.

"Are you calling Asgardians idiots?" piped up Sigyn.

"Or a genius," stated Thor.

"How do you know he's not going after one of the other Stones?" Gamora pressed.

"There are six Stones out there, yes? Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it when he decimated Xandar. He now has the Space Stone because he stole it when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones are safe on Earth with the Avengers-"

"The Avengers?"

"Earth's mightiest heroes."

"Like Kevin Bacon!?" gasped Mantis.

"Uh, he may be on the team, I don't know. I haven't been there in a while. As for the Soul Stone, well no one's ever seen it, no one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can't get it and it is safe. So, that leaves the Reality Stone on Knowhere."

"Then we have to go to Knowhere now," Gamora decided.

"No, wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir," said Thor.

"That's a made-up word," accused Drax.

"All words are made-up."

"Nidavellir? Seriously?! It's real? I mean, that place is a legend! They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the universe!" Thor smiled at Rocket's excitement. "I would very much like to go there, please."

"Thor, I think I'm seeing what you're thinking," said Sigyn.

"How can you see what he thinks? It's impossible," said Drax.

"Yes, Sigyn. And the rabbit is correct and clearly the smartest among you Guardians. And he has manners."

"Rabbit?"

"Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need." Thor turned to Rocket. "I assume you're the captain here?"

"You're very perceptive."

"You seem like a noble leader. Will you, Captain Rabbit, join me on my quest to Nidavellir?"

"Here, let me just ask the captain - oh wait, I am the captain! Yeah, I'll go."

"Except that I'm the captain, and this is my ship," stated Quill. "And I mean, what kind of weapon are you talking about here?"

"The Thanos-killing kind."

"Oh. Don't you think we should all have a weapon like that?"

"You lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as your minds collapse."

"Is it weird that I want to do it even more now?" said Rocket with a mischievous grin.

"If we don't go to Knowhere then Thanos will retrieve another Stone. He'll be too powerful to stop," Gamora reminded them.

"He already is."

"Okay, I got it figured out. We have two ships and a large assortment of morons," said Rocket. "Me and Groot will go with the pirate-angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to stop Thanos. See? Simple."

"I know you're only going with him cause it's where Thanos isn't," accused Quill.

"You know, you really shouldn't talk that way to your captain, Quill."

"Sigyn, where are you going?" Thor asked his friend.

"Whichever is the fastest route to Thanos." She held up her newly-sharpened daggers. "I'm going to kill him."

"Yeah, get in line," said Quill.

"Which sounds like it would be going to Knowhere."

"Be safe," Thor told her. "I can't lose you too."

"That's exactly what I was going to tell you." The friends shared a tight embrace. "Get that Thanos-killing weapon," she said before both groups went their separate ways.

 _Gamora knows more than she's saying ;) about the Stones and the look-alikes... Thanks so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed!_


	7. Save the Wizard!

Six - Save the Wizard!

 _Space_

Kat watched from above the skinny alien fellow with the captured Stephen. By the looks of it, he was about to be tortured.

Sharing a nod with Cloak who floated beside her, she was just raising her hand to cast a spell when someone caught her wrist in an iron grip.

She spun around, ready to blast whoever it was with a spell, only to find a tall, red and gold metal suit. Iron grip indeed. "Stark. What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I think," he said, removing his mask. "Saving your magical boyfriend." He turned to Cloak. "You're sure a loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah, speaking of loyalty... I'm here too!" A young man's voice called, a red and blue partially-glowing figure hanging upside down from the ceiling by a string right behind Kat. She jumped.

Stark's jaw dropped at the sight of him. "What the-"

"I know what you're going to say!" the boy jumped in with a nervous chuckle, also removing his mask to reveal a messy-haired teenager.

"You should not be here!"

"I was going to go home, I really was-"

"I don't want to hear it!"

"But then it was _such_ a long way down, and I kinda got stuck on the side of the ship-"

"And now I've got to hear it!"

Kat and Cloak exchanged a glance.

"-And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way, so, if anything, it's kinda your fault I'm here-"

" _What_ did you just say?" demanded Stark.

"I take that back! But yeah, now I'm here, in space."

"Yeah, right here where I didn't want you to be! This isn't a field trip, Kid. This is a one-way ticket."

"Um, I hate to interrupt, but..." Kat tried.

"You didn't think this through-"

"Yeah, I did!"

"There's no way you could have thought this through-"

"Yeah! You can't be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man if there's no neighbourhood." Stark stared at him. "Okay, that didn't really make sense, but you know what I'm trying to say."

"It made sense," piped up Kat.

"Hi, I'm Peter." The boy grinned and stuck out his hand.

"Ekaterina, Master of the Mystic Arts."

"Cool! Don't know what that is, but sounds cool!"

"They're basically wizards," said Stark.

"Not exactly," she corrected.

"Well, for simplicity's sake."

A scream from below snapped them back to focus; Stephen was being tortured.

"Now come on, we've got a situation."

"Hi, I'm Peter." Peter turned to Cloak and held out his hand. If Cloak could shrug, it did, and fluttered back to Kat. "Cool!"

"Okay, fine, Kid. You want to help? Assess the situation and figure out a plan. Go."

"Okay. What's this guy's problem again?"

"He wants to steal a necklace from a wizard," Tony summed up.

"It's not just a necklace, it's the Eye of Agamotto which contains the Time Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones," Kat stated.

"Cool! Okay, okay-" Peter looked down at the scene. "Hmmm... Oh! Did you guys ever see that really old movie _Aliens_?"

"Did you pick that just cause we're on a spaceship?"

Kat scoffed. "We're doomed. This is your backup?"

"He's good, really," said Stark.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark!"

"He's a child. What sort of program are you running recruiting children? And just a minute ago you were upset that he was even here."

"Well, to be honest, this movie-plan thing has worked before."

Stephen cried out again. The skinny alien grinned maliciously. "Painful, aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them could end your friend's life in an instant," the alien threatened, turning to face Stark, who was hovering behind them.

"Well, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more a professional courtesy. Now an angry girlfriend, on the other hand..."

Kat took away her invisibility spell and armed herself with magic shields.

"You've saved nothing." The alien used his telepathy to hover some pieces of the ship as defense. "Your powers are inconsequential to mine."

"Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies-" With that, Stark blasted a hole in the side of the ship. Instantly, everything began to be sucked out, including the alien and Stephen. They managed to grab the sorcerer and seal up the hole right before he was sucked out into the galactic abyss to his death - like the alien.

"Are you alright?" Kat cried, rushing to help Stephen to his feet.

"Yeah." Cloak fluttered over, snuggling around Stephen's shoulders. "Thanks."

"Well, Peter, I have to say you surprised me. It worked," Kat commented.

"Thanks Ma'am!"

"You're welcome." They turned to Stark.

"Oh, he's here too," sighed Stephen. "We have to turn this ship around."

"Oh, now he wants to run."

"No, I want to protect the Stone."

"And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I'm listening."

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" Stephen shot back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, who just saved your magical ass?"

"You know I really don't know how that head of yours fits into that helmet."

"Admit it, you should have ducked out when I told you to. But no, you're too busy waving your hands around, making light shows, and babbling on about an oath."

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."

"And now we're in a flying doughnut, billions of miles from Earth, with no backup. Except for maybe your girlfriend."

"Um, I am a part of this team-up, not backup," Kat defended.

"I'll be backup." Peter raised his hand.

"Uh, no, you're a stowaway. Now, please leave us alone, the adults are talking."

"I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here. Is he your ward?" Stephen clarified.

"No, I'm like his intern. I'm Peter, by the way." Peter stuck out his hand.

"Doctor Strange." Stephen shook his hand.

"Oh, so we're using our made-up names. Well then, I'm Spider-Man."

"'Doctor Strange' is his real name," Kat told him as the men resumed their argument.

"Seriously? I'm not sure I'd want my doctor to operate on me if his name was 'Strange'."

She couldn't help but giggle. "Me neither. Don't tell him I said that."

"Under no circumstances can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos," Stephen was saying. "I don't think you realize what's at stake here-"

"No, it's _you_ who doesn't understand," Stark shot back. "Thanos has been inside my head for six years and now he's back - and I don't know what to do. Do we fight him on our turf or his? Now you saw what they've done, what they can do. At least if it's on his turf he's not expecting it."

Everyone considered this.

"We take this ship to wherever it's headed and we've got one advantage: he's coming to us."

"I don't see how that's an advantage," mumbled Kat.

Stark continued as if she hadn't spoken. "We have what Thanos wants, so that's what we use. I'm saying we take the fight to him. Doctor, do you concur?"

Stephen absorbed this. "Alright, but know this: if it comes down to saving your life, the kid's, or the Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. You have to understand, because the universe depends on it."

Stark's jaw clenched. "And what about your girlfriend?"

"He knows I can handle myself." Kat stepped forward. "And the Stone comes before my life as well because we have sworn an-"

"-An oath, yeah yeah, to protect the Stone, yeah yeah, we got that."

"I can save my own magical ass."

"Good, moral compass." Stark patted Stephen on the shoulder before approaching Peter. "Kid, you're an Avenger now." The look on Peter's face was priceless.

 _I have lots planned for 'Part 2' and we'll have to see how Avengers 4 plays out - hopefully we'll get a trailer soon! :D_

 _Back to the Guardians in the next chapter - Gamora has some explaining to do! ;) But don't worry, we'll catch up with Cap and crew very soon! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)_


	8. The Road to Knowhere

Seven - The Road to Knowhere

 _Space_

"Hey Gamora, do you know if these grenades are the blow-your-junk off kind, or the gas kind? Cause I was thinking of hanging a couple on my belt right here." Peter tapped his belt.

"Peter, if I know something, and I haven't shared it with the team, does that make me a liar?" Gamora questioned. She continued to stare at the floor, as if in deep thought.

Peter was caught off guard by her question . "Figuratively speaking or actually, literally speaking?"

"Peter, I haven't told anyone else this, no one else knows."

"Okay..."

"But I'm going to tell you."

"Okay..."

"Because I trust you." Now she met his eyes.

"Okay... Aw, I trust you too."

"It's about my mother." She suddenly averted her gaze again.

Ah, that explained her seriousness. "Oh. Yeah, I'd like to hear about her." Gamora knew all about his mother, he happy to ramble on for hours about Meredith Quill, but Gamora had always been more quiet on the topic of family, understandably. Both were sensitive on the subject, but both had different ways of dealing with and expressing it.

"She trained me, you know. Everything I know about combat is from her."

There was no mistaking the confusion that furrowed Peter's brow. "I thought Thanos killed her," he said gently.

"He did, my actual mother. No, this was the woman who raised me after that. He always insisted that I call her 'Mother', but she hated it, at least at first. It's confusing, I know."

"Oh. I didn't know you had someone else raising you."

"We did, for a while. Nebula and I got really attached to her." A small smile found its way onto Gamora's lips. "She didn't play favourites like Thanos, so when we lost her..." She trailed off, and the smile, small as it had been, fell. "Well, that was the start of me and Nebula's strained relationship."

Peter was awfully curious now. If she hadn't told anyone else about this, it was a lot to bottle up and keep to herself. "Who was she? Was she stolen too?" That would make sense why Gamora had grown so attached, shared experience.

"No, no she was there willingly."

"Oh. Like one of his followers?"

"Not exactly. She was-" What was the best way to word this? "If I tell you, will you promise not to freak out?"

"Why would I freak out?"

"She and Thanos were together..." Peter was nodding, though it hadn't clicked yet. "Together - romantically..."

That did it. "Thanos had a girlfriend?!"

"SHHH!" Gamora shushed him. "I told you not to freak out!"

"How could I not freak out?!"

"Will you at least let me finish and then you can freak out?" He nodded. "Her name is Adonia, Lady Infinity. She holds a special connection to the Infinity Stones, she's their keeper and holds their power. The power of the Stones is hers."

"I'm starting to see a connection here."

She nodded. "If he brings her back then they'll be unstoppable, the most formidable force the entire universe has ever known."

"Yikes..."

"I think he has another goal, one besides collecting the Stones to balance the universe. I think he's trying to bring her back."

"What happened to her?" he asked.

"We don't know. All we know is that someone must have snuck aboard the ship and cut the stones from her, breaking the connection. She needs them to survive, and they need her to survive. She's not exactly dead, or at least until all the Stones are back together, all six."

"Which is why Thanos wants them so bad," Peter concluded. She nodded. "Well, bringing his formidable girlfriend back from the dead so they can take out the universe - awesome. I thought he was bad enough on his own."

"Peter!"

"I'm sorry! I'm just trying to get my head around this! The fact that Thanos has a _girlfriend!_ "

Gamora sighed and rolled her eyes. Real subtle, Peter. As always.

"What was she like? You said you got really attached to her."

"She was different than him."

"Good or bad different?"

"Good - I think. I've been thinking about it a lot. Like I said, she didn't play favourites. And she didn't seem so fully invested in the balance, at least not by the time I arrived."

"So did they like, like-like each other?" Peter was still grappling with this - who would date Thanos?

"I think so. He called her 'his great love' and 'the fiercest woman in the universe'.

Peter gave a low whistle. "That's - affectionate... That's quite the reputation to uphold."

"And uphold it she did. He wasn't the first to call her the fiercest, and not the last." She sighed. "I wish Nebula were here, she's the only one who loved her and knew her like I did. There's been nothing from her?"

"Nothing." Peter shook his head. Gamora's expression held obvious worry for her sister. "But what about Envy? She didn't have her?"

"No, she was 'adopted' after we lost Adonia. She never had that mother figure like we did, even for as little as we had her for." Gamora sighed. "Speaking of Envy, there's something else," she continued, serious. "Envy and Sigyn, they were talking about look-alikes right? Well they look like _her_."

"Like her, her? Thanos's girlfriend her?"

"Yes. Not exactly, like hair colour and those details, but height, build, facial features. But I don't know why, don't know what it means. And it sounds like there's more of them out there, these look-alikes. And it's all happening at once, the Stones, Thanos hunting for them, the look-alikes, everything coming together - it can't be coincidence."

"Weird."

Gamora nodded. "Please, don't tell anyone. Not until we've figured this out more."

"Hey, your secret's safe with me."

She smiled up a him a little. "Thank you. And thank you for listening."

"Anytime. Thanks for sharing with me." They shared a smile. Then he turned thoughtful. "But, if she cared so much about you guys, do you really think she'll side with Thanos?"

Gamora gave a little shrug. "She was always committed to his cause. She had her reservations, of course, but she was there at his side through it all. Besides, if he gets control of the Stones and their power, I don't think she'll have much choice."

 _Yay, finally we're getting somewhere with all this ;) It's all piecing together, slowly but surely!_

 _I've heard of the ship name Starmora for Peter and Gamora and I love it, so cute! :D Thank you so much for reading, hope you enjoyed! :) (we'll catch up with Cap's side of the story in the next chapter!)_


	9. Widow to Widow

Eight - Widow to Widow

 _Edinburgh, Scotland - Earth_

Wanda was surrounded - although there were only two aliens after them, with Vis down she felt wildly outnumbered. Sure, she was more confident with her powers now, but it was sudden situations like these which cost her that confidence. Still, she stood her ground, igniting her palms with telekinetic red energy. Then she noticed something appearing behind the speeding train, a tall figure...

Suddenly, Cap, Widow, Falcon, and Spark attacked. Their team members come to help them in their time of need.

"We don't want to kill you, but we will," threatened Natasha. The calmness of her voice was frightening.

The female alien snarled. "You'll never get the chance again." And the two disappeared, teleported back up to their ship.

"Thank you, Captain," said Vision shakily. "Everyone."

"I thought we had a deal: stay close, check in, don't take any chances," said Nat.

"We're sorry, we just wanted time," Wanda explained.

"Yeah, we can understand that," sympathized Karen. "Did you see them looking at me funny?" she then asked Sam, speaking of the aliens. "I thought I saw a flash of recognition - it happened so fast I couldn't really tell. That and they were trying to kill us."

"Weird," he agreed. "This is all getting really, really weird."

"Yeah, you can say that again." _Beep beep!_ She glanced down at her wristband. "It's a message from Wakanda - he's ready for visitors."

Steve smiled. "Go, take the small jet. We'll meet you there."

"Are you sure you won't need me here?"

"Karen, go welcome your boyfriend home from the war."

She smiled. "Will do, Cap. See you all soon."

"If it's alright with you, Captain, I think I'll take my leave as well," said Nat once Karen was gone.

Steve knew that look. "You have a lead?"

"I think so. Somewhat, at least."

"Who is it?"

"You remember that favour I pulled for you from Kiev, regarding Barnes's file?" Steve nodded. He'd had a difficult time making his way through that file. "Well I contacted them again, asking for this. It's only partial, but you'll understand once you see it." Natasha withdrew a file folder much like Bucky's had been. This one didn't look as worn and old though. It had a stamp across the front in Russian. He opened the thin file to see only a few pages of sparse information, mostly in Russian, but the black and white photograph was what struck him.

"Now you get it?" asked Nat.

"Yeah. She looks like them."

"Yeah. When I first became Karen, or Liv as she was at the time's S.O., I was confused. Yelena's been blonde before, and Karen looked just like her, only with an American accent. They're popping up everywhere, like clones almost." Steve handed her back the file. "I'm not the only Black Widow, you know. There were others, lots of others, at least at the start. Now only few remain, and she's one of them."

"Definitely seems like a lead to me."

"Yeah. I'd come along for the ride back to the Avengers facility, but my destination's closer from here."

"Where is it?"

"Back where it all started: home."

* * *

 _Moscow, Russia - Earth_

A Moscow hotel room. Casual, not too fancy. A good place to hide.

Classical music filled the room. Nat recognized it right away: they used to dance to this song, a dozen or so girls in ballet shoes and tutus, dancing to hide what they really were.

The door wasn't locked - almost as if someone had been expecting someone to stop by. It appeared neat inside, as if no one was staying there at present, the only sign being the music. And the TV, which was on, clashing with the music. The channel showed an image of Princess Kalyna of Sokovia, and her engagement to King T'Challa of Wakanda and what this would mean for the two nations and their alliance.

There was a faint _click_ , one Nat would recognize anywhere: a gun. She felt said gun press into the back of her head.

"I wonder - is it possible for a spider to fall into another spider's web?" Unlike Nat, Yelena still had her strong accent. "Or what about a spider falling into their own web?" she continued to ponder aloud, gun still pressed to Natasha's head. "Natalia Romanova."

"Put the gun down, Belova. I didn't come to fight."

"I don't know. You shot me last time we saw each other."

"You attacked me. And I didn't kill you, even though I could have."

Yelena hissed a word in Russian. _Traitor._

Nat whipped around, batting the gun from the other woman's hands and shoving her back with a kick to the gut. The gun sailed across the room, striking the wall before landing on the floor.

Yelena stumbled back but regained her balance. "You only found me because I let you."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"Maybe I just wanted to see you again, _Natalia_. Nice hair by the way, but I think we both know I always looked better blonde. Besides, isn't red your signature colour? I liked the red on you better."

Nat shrugged. "It was time for a change."

"I hear you're a bit of a criminal now. On the run. Good thing you were always good at hiding. Disappear one day only to reappear later, unexpectedly."

"You know why I'm here, Yelena." Nat crossed her arms.

"Do I?"

"Four women who bear striking resemblance to each other have all been found in the last few years, all to do with 'hero' business, on Earth alone. According to our sources elsewhere, there's more." Thor had said that Karen resembled his friend back on Asgard.

Yelena chuckled. "Heroes." She shrugged. "So? I've heard that people can have many look-alikes."

"But as striking a resemblance as these have been? Coincidence? I don't think so." Yelena had begun to hum along to the music, drifting around the room over to the couch with a glass and some pills. The same painkillers she had been taking since the Red Room. She had been tortured more than the rest, had been pushed too hard, and her mind had snapped back. Since then she was always plagued by visions and dreams and terrible migraines.

"What do you see?" Nat asked, her voice gentler now. From the dark bags under her eyes alone, Nat guessed that Yelena had been kept awake by such visions and dreams recently. And she would bet anything that they had something to do with their alien visitors.

"Something's coming," Yelena admitted. "Something that could mean the end for all of us. For everything." She flicked on the TV, flipping through the various news channels, all in various languages, all which were discussing the attack on New York and the sudden disappearance of Stark.

Nat nodded. "Like I once told Clint, this is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for. We're going to need all the help we can get. And I can't promise any answers about this whole 'doppelganger' situation, but we might find something. So what do you say? Widow to Widow?"

"So you and the Avengers are sticking your noses in everyone else's business now? Unlike you, I always stayed close to home."

"Like you said, it involves everyone. Whatever this threat that's coming is, it's worldwide, hell, even universally wide. No one is going to be safe. It's only a matter of time. But we have a chance to stop it. And you're one of the best fighters I know." Yelena scoffed. "It's true. Our trainers may never have thought so, but I did. I do. What do you say we prove them wrong? You always loved a good chance to show off, if I recall."

Now the other woman chuckled. "As did you." She paused. "You abandoned me, Natalia." She pointed to her head, indicating the torture, which had escalated after Nat had left.

"Well I'm here now. And I'll make it up to you by helping you figure out this whole look-alike business. Let's go meet some of them. You've been doing some research, you're curious."

"Where are we going then?"

Nat smirked and came over, taking the remote. She flipped the channel back to the news of the royal engagement. An image of the newly-revealed African nation was shown. _Wakanda._

 _Whew, that turned out a lot longer than I thought, I was getting so into it! I really want to know more about the Red Room in the MCU!_

 _Cue the Avengers theme! ;) And the Wakanda theme! This was super exciting getting to delve deeper into the Red Room and Black Widows! I imagine Nat and Yelena's relationship to be similar of that of an early Gamora and Nebula. And I love Nat's 'monsters and magic' line so I just had to include it here! ;) Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!_


	10. A Old Acquaintence

Nine - An Old Acquaintance

 _Knowhere - Space_

"This place looks deserted," noted Peter as their ship sailed into Knowhere. The usually bustling, colourful planet was now dark and eerily quiet.

"Maybe everyone evacuated after hearing what's been happening," suggested Envy.

"Good plan. However, I figure a certain collector won't be abandoning his precious goods," Quill remarked.

"Let's hope not."

"Tivan isn't foolish enough to leave the Reality Stone unattended, even if he's aware of what's been happening with the Stones," said Gamora. "It's too valuable."

Peter looked at her, trying to meet her gaze. After her story about Adonia - Thanos's girlfriend, which he was still trying to process - her words carried a different weight now, but only he knew.

He landed the ship right outside the Collector's, well, collection. It was dark in there too, but seemingly alright.

"Stay close," he whispered. "I have a strange feeling about this..." Everyone kept their weapons close and at the ready as they entered the vast exhibition hall.

"Tivan?" called Gamora as they pressed further and further into the vast collection and were not stopped, or encountered anything or anyone. "Tivan?" They continued to weave through the various displays.

Suddenly, a shadow moved up ahead, jumping out in front of them. In turn, they all jumped back into a fighting stance. But it was only the tall, cloaked figure of Taneleer Tivan, the Collector himself.

"Oh, oh Guardians, it's you." He straightened his posture, fixing the fur cloak around his neck. His white hair suck up at odd angles and his eyes, already dark, had equally dark, heavy bags beneath them.

"Tivan, you look awful," noted Gamora.

"Well, I could look worse, let me tell you! 'Awful', humf! Now, I'm sorry to turn you away, friends, but we are closed." He turned and began stalking back into his collection.

"We're not here to buy, sell, or trade, Tivan."

"Well then you've come to the wrong place."

"We're here to warn you."

"Warn me?"

"Thanos is coming."

He appeared to smirk. "Your father." Gamora's jaw tightened. "And why does this concern me?"

"Dude, come on, you must have heard," stepped in Peter.

"Because he's after all the Infinity Stones, and you have one. You almost had two, which we nearly gave you," Gamora reminded him.

"Yeah, thank God we didn't do that," added Peter.

"Hmmm..." Tivan still did not seem phased. If anything, he appeared slightly amused, though no one could understand why he would be in this situation. "So it has begun," he added, almost to himself.

"He already has two, the Space and Power Stones. He's already destroyed Xandar, and what was left of Asgard."

"I know for a fact that Asgardians brought the aether here," Sigyn said, stepping forward.

"Oh, now who is this divine creature?" Sigyn appeared startled as Tivan swept forward, scooping up her hand to kiss the back of it. "I do not believe we have yet had the pleasure of meeting, my dear. I am Taneleer Tivan, the Collector. Welcome to my great collection. Beings come from all over the universe just to catch a glimpse of it. It, and myself, are quite famous. Perhaps you've heard of us?"

She raised an eyebrow. "A little."

"Oh." He looked offended. "Very well. But who better to introduce you than myself? Please, what is your name, my dear?"

She did not look amused. "Lady Sigyn of Asgard."

"Oh, an Asgardian-" He dipped forward in a strange little bow. "Now, if it is not too bold a question, may I ask if you are seeking employment, my dear? You see, I have been without an assistant for quite some time now and I am finding all the work to be too much of a strain for just myself. Would you be interested in such a job, do you think?

"She wasn't an assistant, she was a slave," accused Peter. "She killed herself just to get out of the job. Don't forget that important detail."

"Tivan, don't change the subject," cut-in Envy before Tivan could further pursue his flirting with Sigyn. "We believe Thanos is coming here next, which puts you in danger."

"Ah, and you are-"

"Envydora, daughter-"

"-Daughter of Thanos," he finished. "So _you_ are Envydora. I have heard of you."

"From who?"

"Certain sources I have." Unlike others they had met, he didn't seem quite so phased by the resemblance of the two women, as if it were already something he had encountered before and knew of.

"Tivan-" Gamora tried to continue her sister's efforts of focusing the conversation again. "You need to get out of here."

The stubborn Collector scoffed. "I will not leave my precious collection!"

"No item here could be worth your life."

"You don't know that! Have you any idea of how ancient and precious some of these items are? They are rare, the only of their kind, priceless!"

"And you need to get the Reality Stone out of here too. We need to get it out of Thanos's reach," said Gamora. "And we need to act quick."

"Well, if that is the case, you are putting yourselves in danger as well."

"We're going to kill Thanos." Peter held up his guns, one in each hand.

"Then I wish you luck with that."

"Why did you want all of the Infinity Stones?" Gamora pressed, now onto a different mission.

"Other than the fact that it would make him the most powerful being in the universe?" said Peter.

"He's already an Elder of the Universe, he doesn't need any more power," spoke-up Drax.

"Tivan, you know what's going on?" But he was staring at the two almost identical women. "Tivan?" He jumped, snapping from his trance. "Enough, Tivan. What about Adonia?" Gamora stepped forward. She had backed him into a corner now, she knew she had. "She told me about you, said that you were an old friend. That's how I knew about you when we gained possession of the orb. You told us about the origin of the Stones before, now tell us about _her_."

* * *

"Before the universe, there were six singularities-" The group was now huddled in the centre of the collection, with Tivan explaining. "You now know that these, of course, are the Infinity Stones."

"Yeah, yeah, you told us this story before, last time we were here," interjected Peter. "We know."

"Ah, but there is more. Much more." Tivan continued. "Now, at the start of this new universe, a group of beings arose, the Elders of the Universe, as powerful as they were ancient. But there was one among us who-" He was cut off by a sudden, distant rumble, followed immediately by another, no-so-distant one. The group exchanged a glance - they figured who that would be. They weren't certain, but it made sense, and they weren't keen on sticking around to find out.

"Back to the ship - now!" Peter gestured for the others to run on ahead. "We gotta get that Stone outta here!" he yelled to Tivan who was now scrambling around.

"Tivan, now!" yelled Gamora. But he was too busy rummaging around. "Tivan!"

There was a louder rumble, and one of the larger display cases burst in a spray of glass. They couldn't see the Collector anymore.

"We gotta go," Peter called to her.

She began running, he quick to follow. They had just made it to the collection's entrance when there was one last rumble, and everything went dark.

 _Cliffhanger, kind of! ;) we all know what happens! I really wanted to see more of the Collector in the movie, so I came up with this. I hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! :)_


	11. Reality Remade

Ten - Reality Remade

 _Knowhere - Space_

"Gamora." At first, Gamora thought all was dark when her heavy eyelids stretched open. However, while there was mostly darkness and shadow, in the distance and around the corners of her vision, there was dim light.

"Gamora." There came the soft whisper of her name again, by Peter's distinctly recognizable voice. Immediately she was filled with comfort where at first she had been struck with panic.

"Sister." Envy and Peter were waving her over to a shadowy area behind a few tall display cases, where the group had huddled. "He's here."

From there they watched the scene unfold.

"I don't have it-" The Collector's strangled cry came from up ahead. "What makes you think I would have it?"

"You were always a man after the most ancient, powerful relics. Everyone in the galaxy knows you'd sell your own brother if it would add the slightest trinket to your pathetic collection. Adonia knew it. And let's just say I like to keep tabs on her ex-boyfriends."

Peter made a face and looked at Gamora. "I thought you said they were friends!" he whisper-hissed.

Gamora was just as shocked. Adonia had never spoken much of a past love-life to Gamora, and of course, had been with Thanos when Gamora had met her. "That's what she always told me. She never said they were anything more."

"She's got an interesting taste in men, I'll say that." Peter nodded and the group inched forward.

Tivan was still trying to cover for himself. "Well _she_ always loved my collection. She always said it impressed her, and that it took a lot to-"

"-A lot to impress her, yes. She said the same to me, but about me, not something I owned."

Peter held up a fist, a signal to the others to stop and wait. Everyone passed by him though, ignoring what he thought to be an obvious signal. He'd have to go over hand signals and gestures with the team later.

"If anyone is going to be bringing her back, it will be me. I know you have the Reality Stone, Tivan. Giving it to me will spare you a great deal of suffering." Thanos stepped on Tivan's chest.

"Liar," mumbled Gamora.

"I told you, I sold it. Why would I lie?"

"I imagine it's like breathing for you."

Tivan smiled maliciously. "Like suicide."

Thanos smiled. "So you do understand." The Titan shook his head. "Not even you would surrender something so precious."

"I didn't know what it was!" claimed Tivan. "The Stone itself, yes, but the aether - how was I to know it contained the Stone?!"

"Then you're even more of a fool than I took you for. I will never understand what Adonia saw in you, or why she trusted you so much.."

"She didn't, in the end," Tivan admitted.

"Now that I can understand. Only a fool would trust you, and she was no fool."

"No, she was not."

"I think he's trying to stall for us," Peter gathered. "Okay, here's the plan-"

"Today-" He was cut off by Drax withdrawing his knives, prepared to charge. "-He pays for the death of my wife and daughter-"

"No, no, Drax - Drax! Wait, wait!"

Drax ignored him however and began moving forward.

Peter tip-toed around the displays and jumped in front of Drax. "He doesn't have the Stone yet! We get it first, yeah?"

"Last chance, charlatan. Where's the Stone?" Thanos taunted in a sing-song voice.

Tivan remained stubborn. "I have already suffered enough."

They could tell Thanos's patience was wearing thin. "Very well. Any last words you would like me to give her?" Silence. "Very well." Thanos raised his gauntleted fist, preparing to blast the Collector.

"For Ovette! For Camaria!"

"Drax, no!"

"Shhh!" hissed Sigyn.

"Sleep-" Mantis reached out and touched Drax's head.

 _CRASH!_ Drax now lay on the floor _._

Thanos stopped talking and the group dove into the shadows to hide.

"Idiots," mumbled Envy. She and Gamora exchanged a glance and nod.

They were caught now. "Okay-" Peter withdrew his guns. "Gamora, you go right-" She passed him on the left, Envy at her side. "The other right!" Looked like they were going to have to go over lefts and rights too. He had even pointed which way with his gun.

But the sisters was already diving at the Titan.

"AHHH!" Gamora dove in with a great yell, blade already in hand. She swung her blade at him. He knocked her aside, leaving room for Envy to attack.

Thanos grabbed her by the wrist, wrenching her arm upward which earned a cry from her. Then, both stopped and watched as, slowly but surely, the skin on her wrist began to change from it's natural orange to a light purple, the new colour crawling up to her hand.

Shocked, he let go, she yanking her hand back. "What did you do?!" she yelled. He didn't answer, while she stumbled back behind a display case.

Gamora regained her footing and attacked again. He dodged it, then grabbed her sword in his fist not covered by the gauntlet, snapping the blade. She used this to her advantage though, stabbing the jaggedly sharp blade into his neck, delivering a finishing blow with the small dagger he had given her the day they met.

"Why? Why you, Daughter?" His voice gurgled with blood in his throat. Then the Titan fell.

"Well that was quick," remarked Peter.

Gamora fell to her knees, broken blade dropping from her hand and clanging to the ground. She had begun to sob.

"Reality is often disappointing-" Thanos's voice suddenly filled the hall once again, breaking her sobs. "That is, it was-" The world around them began to fade away in red dust, to reveal a burning and destroyed collection, and no Collector.

As well as Thanos, alive and well, victorious. The Titan emerged, holding up his fist. The Reality Stone glowed with red brilliance. "Now it can be whatever I want." He smirked. "Half way there." Three Stones down, three to go.

"You knew I would come."

"I counted on it."

She dove down to reach for her blade, but he grabbed her by the collar of her jacket before she could. She gave a startled cry.

"THANOS!" Drax charged forward. The Titan merely smirked and blasted the man with the Reality Stone. Drax instantly became blocks. A similar case happened to Mantis, only she was turned into ribbons.

"FOR ASGARD!" Sigyn also gave a battle cry and leapt out of hiding. She made it further than Drax and Mantis, but not much. Instead of blasting her as well, Thanos froze her mid-jump. Her charging figure now hung in mid-air, as did the dagger she had thrown.

"Let her go, Grimace!" Peter was now approaching, a gun in each hand. "I told you to go right," he then accused her.

"Now? Really," she sobbed.

"Ah, the boyfriend," Thanos mocked.

"I like to think of myself more as a Titan-killing long-term booty-call. Let. Her. Go." Peter raised his guns.

"Peter-"

"I'm gonna blow that nutsack of a chin right off your face!"

"Peter, not him. Not him-" He met eyes with her. No, the promise he had made to her. He never thought it would actually come down to him having to honour it, especially not so soon.

"You promised!" Gamora cried. Then repeated more softly, "you promised me."

Another tear fell down her cheek. Peter felt tears welling up in his own eyes. "I told you to go right."

"I love you more than anything." She gave a smile.

Peter's breath caught in his throat. "I love you, too. But I told you to go right." He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

 _In honour of the Avengers 4 trailer, poster, and title release (:D) here's another chapter!_

 _Wow, Thanos really knows how to throw some shade, haha! I really wanted to see more of the Collector in this movie - I hope he comes back in Avengers 4, even though Thanos probably killed him... (I would love to see him and Grandmaster interact!) Anyone else notice that Thanos mentioned Grandmaster when interrogating Tivan? I didn't notice until I bought the movie and watched it with subtitles but got super excited when he did! :) Oh please oh please Marvel give us a scene of the two brothers! ;)_

 _Haha, everything Peter Quill says is golden! ;)_

 _What did you all think of the 'Avengers: Endgame' trailer? I was a little disappointed by the lack of Thanos ( ;) ) but I am nonetheless super excited! :D_

 _As always, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!_


	12. White Wolf

Eleven - White Wolf

 _Wakanda - Earth_

While Cap and the group headed back to the Avengers Facility in New York, Karen headed to Wakanda. She had butterflies in her stomach as she touched down in the city centre. She honestly felt just as excited as she had before going on her first date with Bucky, back about eighty years ago. A whole lifetime had passed since then. The world had been very different.

For that first date she wore a coral-pink dress with a matching hair bow. Now she wore her combat suit.

Princess Shuri, who had been treating Bucky, greeted her. "Hello, Agent Granger."

"Princess." Karen nodded. "I got your message."

"Yes, he is ready and eager to see you," Shuri said with a smile. At this, the butterflies in Karen's stomach fluttered madly.

The princess led her out into an open field, huts speckling the grass. This was where Bucky had been recovering and healing.

"Uh, h-how do I look?" Karen asked the princess, suddenly nervous. She had been about Princess Shuri's age when she had first met Bucky.

"Nervous," chuckled Shuri. "You look fine."

"You look amazing." A familiar voice caused Karen to spin around. There stood a smiling Bucky, her Bucky.

A wide smile instantly spread across her face. "Buck."

He was dressed in Wakandan robes of red and blue. His now long hair was partially pulled back into a bun, and he had a new metal arm.

Shuri chuckled. "I will leave you two to catch up on the last eighty-or-so years."

"Thank you, so much, for everything," Karen told her.

"Yes, thank you, Princess," agreed Bucky.

Shuri only smiled. "It was my pleasure." And with that, she left them.

The couple turned back to face each other, not saying anything for several moments, just taking the sight of each other in.

Karen felt tears prickling her eyes and her hands quickly flew up to her face to hide them and quickly wipe them away. "Oh no - I promised myself I wouldn't cry." She brushed the traitorous tears away. "It's just, you look so much healthier and happier than last time we found you."

Bucky chuckled. "Well, that's good to hear. And yeah, Wakanda has done wonders for me." He flashed her that ever-charming smile of his which had her smitten from the very start. She had always thought her Bucky had a winning smile.

"I like the hair and the beard," she commented.

"Do you?" He rubbed his hand across his jaw. "I was wondering whether or not I should give it a cut and shave."

"I like it," she repeated, reaching out to brush his cheek herself. "It's the new you."

"Yeah. They're calling me 'White Wolf.'"

"'White Wolf'," she tried. "I like it, too. I think it suits you."

He reached up and captured her hand, still resting gently against his cheek, in his metal one. "It's beautiful," she commented, now running her fingers along his metallic arm.

"Yeah, Princess Shuri made it for me. It's made from Vibranium, the strongest-"

"-Metal in the world." Their words overlapped and they shared a chuckle.

"Can you feel with it?"

He gave her hand a squeeze. "Yeah."

Her smile then fell ever so slightly. Time for the hard part. "Listen, Buck. I've been thinking a lot about this, about us, lately and I want you to know that I'm not expecting anything. I'm not expecting us to get back together, or something like that. Thing's have changed so much for us. You've been through so much, and its been so long, I just don't want you to feel any pressure-"

She was cut off and silenced then by his lips against hers in a kiss, an embrace that felt so distant yet familiar and one which she immediately melted into.

He pulled away, smiling at her surprised expression. "How was that for eighty years of no practice?" She only stared up at him, blinking and shocked speechless. "And wait, did we break up?"

Karen was still shocked. "W-well, no, not technically. But I thought you were dead and then you didn't remember, and-"

"-And its been eighty years. For the first time in eighty years I have a choice, I'm in control. And I'm choosing you, choosing us, this. And look at us, eighty years later, not looking so bad for a couple of senior citizens if I must say so myself." This made her laugh. "Life's giving us another chance, so let's grab it and run. What d'ya say?" He grinned and raised his eyebrows.

"Very smooth, Barnes." Now she was beaming. "You always were charming."

"Didn't lose that part of me." He winked.

"No, you didn't." They embraced again.

Someone clearing their throat broke in a few moments later. "Excuse us."

"I told you not to interrupt them, Brother, they're reuniting."

The couple broke their embrace to see King T'Challa standing there before them, slightly awkwardly, along with his sister and general, Okoye.

"Pardon us for interrupting, but we have some news," the king explained.

Bucky and Karen exchanged a glance. "Where's the fight?" asked Bucky.

T'Challa sighed. "On its way."

 _Yay, Bucky's back! ;) He's always been a favourite of mine! Thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :)_

 _What are your predictions for 'Avengers: Endgame'? I'd love to hear your thoughts!_


	13. Family

Twelve - Family

 _Knowhere - Space_

But the blast never came. Instead, there was a faint _pop!_ and they saw bubbles releasing from Peter's gun instead. The gun itself dissolved into bubbles too.

"Oh Daughter, you expect too much from him. But I like him." Thanos smiled smugly, fist clenched, Reality Stone activated. Then, blue replaced red as the Space Stone carried father and daughter away.

"AHHHH!" Envy had recovered from her shock - the light purple had gradually faded on her wrist, which was now back to its usual orange - and dove back to them in an attack, but missed them by mere moments. She went crashing to the ground as Thanos and Gamora disappeared, as did Sigyn, dropping from her frozen, levitated state. Her dagger, which had also been hanging in mid-air from where she had thrown it, fell with a _clang!_ to the floor.

Drax and Mantis were slowly piecing back together while a shocked Peter knelt down and retrieved Gamora's broken sword. _"I love you more than anything."_

This was all that was left of her.

* * *

"Turn it back on!"

"NO!"

Peter chased after Drax who had turned off the music and stole his music player. "I'm screwed up man, I need to get back in the groove!"

"No!" Drax protested. "The music's not helping! We haven't even left Knowhere yet!"

This was true. The ship still sat parked where they had left it upon first arriving. Peter didn't have the mindset to try and fly it at the moment, nor do anything for that matter.

"It's my fault." All heads turned to Envy who had spoken for the first time since attacking Thanos. She had been staring down at her wrist again, the skin and veins of which had slowly but surely returned to their usual orange colour. "I was supposed to have Gamora's back, and I got distracted. One cannot afford to become distracted during a fight." She swallowed hard and looked down at the floor. "It's my fault she's gone."

* * *

 _Sanctuary, Thanos's Domain - Space_

"We have something to discuss, Little One. And I think you know what." Gamora jumped to her feet when Thanos entered the throne room. She stood tall to face her father.

"The Stones. That's all you ever cared about."

Thanos sat on the steps before his throne. "You're wrong. I have always cared, and deeply." He paused, heaving a heavy sigh. "And yet it seems that I am destined to lose all I care about: my people, my home, you, my family. Adonia." Gamora looked away. "You are not the only one who misses her dearly. I'm not the only one who wants to bring back your mother, Daughter."

Now she looked up at him. "I knew it. I knew you had other motives."

He nodded. "I raised you to be smart."

"I'm not your daughter, and she isn't my mother."

"Even so, you loved her and she loved you."

"It was the only love I knew here."

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is! I had a home, I had a life. You took it all. You destroyed it. I had a mother, you killed her! MURDERER!" Her shout echoed through the vast room.

He remained calm and quiet. "I gave you a family."

"I have a family!" she yelled in defense of the Guardians and her actions, knowing full well he was trying to make her feel guilty about leaving. But she wasn't guilty of anything. She wasn't.

She wasn't.

He chuckled. "That group of foolish misfits who never stop fighting."

"It's more of a family than this ever was." She let her declaration hang in the air for a moment. "And you didn't raise me. You kidnapped me, orphaned me, and imprisoned me! Everything I hate about myself comes from you!" she spat. "I only stayed here for as long as I did because you taught me I didn't deserve better."

"I gave you more than you had. I gave you a better chance. And yet you still left."

"Because I found people who showed me I did deserve better."

"You had a family here, Little One."

She shook her head firmly. "No, I didn't."

"Yes. You did. You just didn't care what happened to it." He reached out to touch her cheek, but she drew back sharply. "Need I remind you that at my side you became the fiercest woman in the galaxy? You made me proud, and her."

Gamora looked down at the cold, stone floor. "I don't think she was, in the end."

"You upheld that title. That's why I tasked you with finding the Soul Stone."

"Well I'm sorry I disappointed you."

"I _am_ disappointed." He leaned down so they were at eye-level. "But not because you didn't find it, but because you _did_ , and you lied." He held up his fist and the Gauntlet glowed blue as he carried them away to another corner of the ship.

An awful sight met her eyes. "Oh, Nebula."

* * *

 _Vormir - Space_

"You should know that the Stone comes with a great price," the cloaked figure explained.

"I am prepared," Thanos declared.

"We all think that at first. We are all wrong." The figure led them to the edge of the cliff, overlooking the misty, orange and purple landscape.

"What's this?" Thanos asked. Gamora remained quiet, calculating the situation.

"The Soul Stone holds a special place amongst the Infinity Stones. You might say that it holds a certain wisdom."

 _Like Adonia,_ thought Gamora, and was certain Thanos was thinking it too.

"The Stone demands a sacrifice," the figure continued.

"What does it need?" demanded Thanos.

"You must solve the following riddle. For some, the answer is more easily identifiable than others: 'A soul for a soul. In order to obtain the Soul Stone you must lose that which you love.'"

The silence that hung in the air following the riddle was broken by Gamora who chuckled. "That's not hard at all, the answer is easy: no one. You love no one, nothing. You did, perhaps, but she's gone." She looked up at him, feeling a certain victory and a swell of pride. "She never wanted you to have the Stones, never trusted you with them. Even though she's gone this is her way of saying 'You'll never have them'. You're finally getting what you deserve. You'll never achieve your goal because you lack the major component: You don't love anything."

Thanos's broad shoulders shook a little and when he turned around to face her she saw his cheeks glistening with tears. "Tears? Really?" she scoffed.

"They are not for him," the figure warned. "The riddle's answer isn't always what it seems."

The realization settled slowly, but when it did it felt like a punch to the gut. "No," she whispered, both because she didn't want it to be true and she still didn't believe it.

"I ignored my destiny once, and I cannot afford to do so again. Even for you," Thanos told her. "I'm sorry, Little One."

Gamora spoke her final words. "No! It won't work! This isn't love!"

What she was not aware of however, was that it did work. His sacrifice did gain him the Soul Stone. A soul for a soul. Simple sounding, but not simple at all.

A soul for a soul. A soul which he loved.

Perhaps that really was his destiny, to lose all that he cared for.

 _Lots of jumping around in this chapter, but there was lots I wanted to cover! Some of this was inspired by deleted scenes from the movie (sorry it was all mostly sad!) Thank you so much for reading, hope you enjoyed! Happy Holidays to everyone! :D_


	14. No More Pop Culture References

Thirteen - No More Pop Culture References

 _Titan - Space_

"I think we're here," announced Stephen.

"I think we're crash landing," added Stark. "Everyone hold on! We're about to make impact - incoming!"

He and Peter did their best to steer the ship and ensure a - relatively - safe landing for the four passengers. Stephen and Kat cast shields around the inner part of the ship to hopefully help ensure this.

"Nicely done, boys," Kat stated as the ship crashed to the ground, taking out some old structures, and becoming damaged itself.

"Very - homey," Stark said, glancing around at the abandoned landscape that was nothing but ruins.

Peter lowered down from a web string on the ceiling. "Uh, I just want to say that if something ends up implanting its eggs in my chest and laying eggs in me and I end up eating one of you, I'm sorry."

"I do not want another, single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip, you understand me?" Stark told him.

"I'm trying to say something's coming-"

Before they could digest his warning let alone heed it, an explosion stunned them and blasted them back. The four went flying in opposite directions.

"THANOS!" A group of aliens appeared, one throwing daggers. Cloak immediately left Stephen's shoulders and wrapped around the man. Stark went over and raised his hand, ready to blast him.

"Ah! Please don't lay your eggs in me!" yelped Peter.

"Stay down, clowns!" One of the newcomers held a gun to Peter's head. When he removed his helmet, the group saw that he was also human. "Everyone stay where you are!" he ordered. "Chill the F out! Okay, I'm going to ask you this one time: who are you?"

"Okay, I'm going to ask _you_ this one time: who are _you_?" shot back Stark.

"Where is Gamora?" the man demanded.

"Okay, here, I'll do you one better: _who_ is Gamora?"

"I'll do _you_ one better!" cried the man Stark was threatening. " _Why_ is Gamora?"

"Tell me where she is or this one's a gonner!" The man pressed his gun closer to Peter's head so that it now rested against his temple.

"Fine, you shoot my guy and I'll blast yours!" Stark shot back the threat.

"Mr. Stark!" cried Peter, alarmed.

A gun formed on Stark's arm. "Do it, Quill! I can take it," the man he was threatening said.

"No! He can't take it!" cried a woman in green.

"She's right, he can't. Let me ask you this one time," interjected Stephen. "What master do you serve?"

"'What master do I serve?'" the human man mocked. "What am I supposed to say? 'Jesus'?"

"Wait, you're from Earth?" Kat questioned him.

"I'm from Missouri."

"Yeah that's on Earth, Dipshit," snapped Stark.

"You don't want to tell me where she is? Fine, how about I kill all of you and then beat it out of Thanos myself!"

"Wait, you're not with Thanos?" clarified Peter, his voice shaking.

" _With_ Thanos?" spat the man, lowering his gun from Peter's head. "No. We're here to get him. He took my girl." Now he just looked confused.

"Oh, well, that's a relief. We're not with him either. This has all been a big misunderstanding," announced Kat.

"Who are you?" cried the man.

"We're the Avengers, Man," Peter told him, pride evident in his voice.

The woman in green gasped. "You're the ones Thor told us about!"

This got Stark's attention. "Thor, you know Thor? He's alive? Is he here?"

"No, he's not." A red-haired woman in elaborate armour and a light blue cape stepped forward. "Hello Wizards of Earth." She smiled.

Stephen and Kat nodded. "Lady Sigyn." The two nearly identical women hugged like old friends.

"I didn't know you were with the Avengers."

"Yeah, it just sort of happened."

"Where's Thor?" asked Stephen.

"He traveled to Nidavellir to build a weapon. A Thanos-killing weapon," Sigyn explained.

"You know each other?" asked Stark.

"Yes, the wizards helped us when we went to Midgard." She observed the others. "You're the Avengers? Earth's mightiest heroes? I have heard great tales of you."

"And you are?"

"Lady Sigyn of Asgard. Goddess of Fidelity and Fertility."

"How are the boy troubles going since we last spoke?" Kat asked.

Sigyn quickly broke down. "He's dead. Loki is dead. Thanos killed him."

"Oh, that's really too bad," cut in Stark, sarcasm lacing his words, before Kat could console her. "Looks like Reindeer Games finally met his match-" He was cut off and gagged when Sigyn's hand went around his throat.

"Ah, Tony Stark, the Iron Man. They warned me of you." Sigyn's expression had darkened. "I would tread lightly on the subject, if I were you." She let him go.

He turned to Kat. "Hey, remember when I asked if you had a twin? Or triplets, maybe? Maybe quadruplets?" he added, noting the orange-skinned version of the two.

"Enough, we know no more about this likeness in appearance than you do," the woman said. "Thanos escaped here with my sister, Gamora. My other sister, Nebula, informed us to meet her here."

"Just us, sorry."

"How did you get here?"

"That ship - or what was once that ship."

She nodded at the ship's remains. "Black Order."

"Huh?"

"The Black Order are the children of Thanos. They use those ships."

"Wait, Thanos has _children_?" piped up Peter.

"'Adopted', which is his translation of stolen and weaponized. They make up the Black Order." She paused. "And regrettably, until very recently, my sisters and I were with them. Thanos has been after the Infinity Stones for as long as we were with him, and long before that. He will stop at nothing, _nothing,_ to get to them."

The man who had been threatening Peter now looked even more confused than before. "Who are you guys again?"

* * *

Soon, all introductions had been made. The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Stark was trying to formulate a plan with the Guardians, who weren't making it very easy.

"Planning's not really what we do," explained Quill.

"What do you do?"

"Kick names, take ass!" declared Mantis.

"Yeah, that's right." Drax puffed out his chest.

"She means take names and kick ass," Envy corrected.

"Yeah, no, we got it." Tony nodded. Well, this should be fun. Suddenly he was glad to have the wizards and Peter.

"Quill, tell him about the dance-off to save the galaxy!" cried Drax.

"Dance-off? Like _Footloose_?" asked Peter

"Exactly like _Footloose!"_ cried Quill. "Is it still the greatest movie ever made?"

"It never was..."

"You're not helping with the 'no more pop culture references' rule," muttered Tony. "Please, don't encourage him."

"Excuse me," said Mantis. "But does your friend usually do that?"

The others turned to see Stephen sitting legs-crossed while levitating, his head turning back and forth rapidly.

"I don't know, does he?" Stark asked Kat. "Hey Strange, you good?"

"He's using the Stone." Kat rushed to his side. "Stephen?"

With a cry, Stephen snapped from his state, falling to the ground.

"I went forward in time," he panted, still recovering. He clung to her arms for support. "To see all the outcomes of the coming conflict leading to possible futures."

"How many did you see?"

"Fourteen-million-six-hundred-and-five."

Quill gave a whistle.

"How many did we win?" Stark asked.

Silence.

"Oh no..."

Stephen's tone was grave. " _One_."

 _So, its been a while, but here we finally check in with Stephen, Kat, Tony, and Peter again :) It was kind of like that in the movie, with long gaps in between seeing each group._

 _Updates will be a little more spaced out from now on - I'm almost at the end of 'Infinity War' as you know and what I have has to last until 'Endgame'! But I will also add some scenes that were not in the movie, but updates will be more spread out to extend the story until 'Endgame' - I'm also planning a 'Captain Marvel' story in between as well! :D_

 _Also, not sure if any of you here are also reading my Cable love story (more Josh! ;)) but I started the sequel in case you're interested! :) Thanks so much, bye for now!_


	15. Fight For All Life

Fourteen - Fight For All Life

 _Wakanda - Earth_

Sokovian planes touched down in Wakanda in the city centre, greeted by the king, his guard, and the princess.

"No suit this time?" Kalyna asked, emerging from the front plane, her leading guards Niyah and Felix behind her, nodding to T'Challa's traditional robes which he wore instead.

He feigned annoyance. "I wear the suit, you complain. I don't wear the suit, and you complain."

She laughed. "It's not the suit I'm here for." The couple kissed. "My King."

"My Queen. My Love."

"My Love. So, we have an alien problem now?"

"It would seem so."

Before they could continue discussing the situation at hand, Shuri jumped in, giving her friend and soon-to-be sister-in-law a hug. "Oh I'm so excited! I have started arranging everything for the wedding - there will of course be a mix of Wakandan and Sokovian traditions."

Kalyna chuckled. "You know the wedding is still not scheduled for months?"

"Oh I know! But best to start planning everything now!"

"Looks like we have this war to face first, however. How is the army looking?"

"We have the Dora Milaje, M'Baku and the Jabari, the Sokovian forces, half of the Avengers, and the Tribes," T'Challa told her.

"All the Tribes?" He nodded. "Including the Border Tribe?" She regarded him quizzically. "The same Border Tribe who sided with Killmonger?" Silence followed her question. "Good thing I brought my armed forces, then."

Niyah and Felix began giving orders to the Sokovian soldiers in Russian while the Dora assisted them. The three royals headed into the city where they were greeted by Agent Romanoff and an unfamiliar woman, only who also looked familiar in that she resembled Kalyna.

"King T'Challa, Princess Shuri, Princess Kalyna," Natasha greeted. "Looks like we beat Cap and the others."

"Agent Romanoff." T'Challa nodded. "They are set to arrive shortly," he informed her.

"You found another one, Agent?" questioned Kalyna.

"This is Agent Belova, an old ally," Nat introduced the familiar-unfamiliar woman who was eyeing her royal doppelgänger.

"Aliens, look-alikes - it would seem we have a lot to figure out before the wedding," Kalyna remarked. She nodded to the two Russian women. " _Zdravstvuyte_."

Cap and the other Avengers joined them a few hours later. The group went to join them once they arrived.

"You know, My King, when you said you were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world, this is not what I imagined," Okoye told T'Challa.

"And, what did you imagine, General?"

"The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks." T'Challa chuckled.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." Cap shook hands with T'Challa.

"Your highness." Bruce bowed.

"Oh, we don't do that here," T'Challa told him. Bruce shuffled back awkwardly. "Welcome back, my friends. So, how big of an assault should we be expecting?"

"Uh, Sir - pardon me, _Your Majesty_ \- you should expect a big assault," informed Bruce. "Like, really big."

"Well, then, we have the armies of the Tribes, my personal guard the Dora Milaje, the Jabari, the Sokovian armed forces, and-"

"A semi-stable one-hundred-year-old man." Bucky, all suited up, emerged through the crowd.

"And his best girl." Karen was at his side. "I watched you march off to war once, but I'm coming with you this time."

"How have you been, Buck?" Steve hugged his friend.

"Oh, you know, not bad, for the end of the world."

" _Soldat_?" cried Yelena.

"It's a long story," Nat stated.

"What have I let you get me into, Natalia?"

The group took the injured Vision to Shuri's lab where she confirmed she would be able to remove the Mind Stone without destroying Vision himself, provided she was given enough time, which was the others' job, to hold off the assault for as long as possible - which had already arrived.

"Something's entered the atmosphere," Okoye announced, receiving an alert on her bracelet.

"That'll be our alien friends," said T'Challa. "Today we don't just fight for one life, we fight for all of them. Evacuate the city, engage all defenses." He turned to Cap. "And get this man a shield."

* * *

Soldiers had amassed on the field at the edge of the city.

Cap, Nat, T'Challa, and Kalyna approached the protective dome's edge where two of Thanos's children stood.

"Thanos will have that Stone," said the lone female follower.

"That's not gonna happen," Cap told her firmly.

"You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood," T'Challa threatened.

She smirked. "We have blood to spare." She raised her arm, sword in hand, cuing a bunch of growling, monstrous aliens to emerge from the ships that had dropped down. The creatures howled and hissed, fangs bared and multiple limbs thrashing.

"Did they surrender?" Bucky asked as the four rejoined the rest of the army.

"Not exactly," Cap replied.

The alien creatures were already charging towards the dome, snarling and thrashing violently.

" _Bozhe moy,_ " muttered Yelena.

"I think we pissed her off," said Nat.

T'Challa started up a chant, the whole of the Wakandan forces chanting with him as the aliens charged towards the dome, fighting and dying to get through. For those that managed to make it past, the army opened fire on them.

The aliens seemed to pick up on the situation, and began circling around the barrier.

"This will be the end of Wakanda," cried M'Baku.

"Then it will be the noblest ending in history," Okoye stated determinedly.

T'Challa gave Dome Control the signal to open the shield and let the aliens in. "Wakanda Forever!"

"Wakanda Forever!"

They charged.

* * *

It became clear right away that they were viciously outnumbered. No matter how many of the aliens they took down, it seemed only more and more kept coming, literally tearing through everything and anything in their path.

"Shuri! Please tell me you are almost done!" T'Challa shouted into the radio.

 _"I've barely begun, Brother!"_

"Then you might want to pick up the pace!"

 _"I'm doing my best!"_

"I know you are!" He was cut off by a pack of aliens swarming and tackling him to the ground. It seemed everyone was just as surrounded.

Suddenly, the ground around them began to shake before a great rumble and bright light broke through the centre of the field.

Strikes of blue lightning flickered through the air as Thor charged into the open battle field, axe raised high. "BRING ME THANOS!"

 _Meanwhile, Thanos arrives on Titan - haha, I just love that transition! Thor bursting onto the battle field and Thanos casually stepping onto Titan ;)_

 _Russian Translations:_

 _Bozhe Moy (Боже мой) - Oh my God (which we've heard Nat use ;))_

 _Zdravstvuyte (здравствуйте) - Hello_

 _Soldat (солдат) - Soldier (which Hydra called Bucky)_

 _I took a Russian language course last year so I got really excited writing all these Russian-speaking characters! ;)_

 _We're nearing the end - of the first part! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	16. Breaking the Oath

Fifteen - Breaking the Oath

 _Titan, Space_

"Oh yeah, you're much more of a Thanos." Stephen addressed the towering purple-skinned alien donning gold armour, including a gauntlet, who had just arrived on Titan via a portal.

Thanos glanced around. "I take it the Maw is dead?" Stephen nodded and Thanos sighed. "This day extracts a heavy toll. But he accomplished his mission."

"Perhaps. But you may regret that. It brought you face-to-face with the Master of the Mystic Arts."

This threat didn't seem to phase the Titan. "And do you know where he brought you?"

"Let me guess: your home?"

"It was. And it was beautiful-" There was a flash of red as Thanos used the Reality Stone to transform the destruction to a thriving, vibrant world. "Titan was like most planets: too many mouths, not enough to go around. We began to face extinction and I came forward with a solution."

"Genocide?"

"At random. Dispassionate and fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. A monster."

"Well, they weren't far off. You're still killing."

"But what I predicted came to pass-" Another flash of red returned the landscape to its current ruined state.

"Congratulations, you're a prophet."

"I'm a survivor," Thanos corrected.

"Who wants to murder trillions, all over the universe."

"It's not just a want, but necessary. With all six Stones I could simply-" Thanos snapped the fingers of his uncovered hand. "-And they would all simply cease to exist. I call that mercy."

"Well, then we have different definitions of the word." Stephen rose to his feet. "And then what?"

"I finally rest, after a lifetime of carrying out my destiny, my mission. And I sit and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest sacrifices require the strongest wills."

"Well, in that case, I think you'll find our will equal to yours-" Stephen cast a spell.

This had the desired effect. "'Our'?"

"Incoming," mocked Stephen.

Realizing his foe was not alone too late, Thanos was taken aback and unprepared when a large piece of debris landed on him.

Stark had pushed it. "See, piece of cake, Quill." Stark rubbed his hands together to brush off imaginary dust.

"Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off." Quill put on his mask as they launched into action.

He was right, Stark's actions hadn't set Thanos back for long. The rest of the Avengers and Guardians came out of hiding and charged at the Titan, who had just blasted apart the rubble that had nearly crushed him with the help of the Power Stone. He gave a great yell.

"Oh yes, definitely pissed," said Envy.

The group swarmed the Titian, using everything they had against him, all their abilities combined.

Envy, Sigyn, and Kat all attacked at once. Thanos stared at the three nearly identical women. "So curious..."

"For Loki, Heimdall, and for Asgard!" Sigyn dove in with her dagger.

"You are devoted, Asgardian. You cared for him. I respect that," Thanos told her. "I too, know what it is like to lose your love. I understand your pain."

"How could you possibly understand?" Sigyn spat. "Do not compare your suffering to mine, monster!"

"Especially not when you caused it!" Envy jumped in.

"Ah, Daughter. My greatest weapon."

"Ah, but that's the thing about a weapon: it can always be used against you!"

She lunged forward in an attack, but a single blast from the Power Stone sent the three women flying.

"We've really gotta get that gauntlet thing off," said Stark.

 _Crash!_ A ship shot in from out of nowhere, striking Thanos and taking him with it as it crashed, startling everyone.

There was a flash of blue and purple as someone emerged from the ship.

"Nebula!" cried Envy.

"Envy," Nebula acknowledged, but there wasn't any time for a reunion. Nebula turned to face their father, who was getting to his feet. "You should have killed me."

"Would have been a waste of parts!" he shot back.

"AHHH!" Nebula dove at him, an electric baton in hand, which he quickly batted away and out of reach.

"Sister!" Envy tossed Nebula one of her own blades.

"Since when did you two become so close?" Thanos demanded.

"Since we realized we have a common enemy - you!"

It took all ten of them working their hardest, but they eventually managed to surround him. Stephen created a portal above them and Mantis fell through, landing on Thanos's shoulders, hands on the sides of his head, using her powers to cloud his mind.

"Hurry! He is very strong!" She fought to keep control while the others fought to keep the Mad Titan tied down, Stark and Peter trying to remove the Gauntlet.

"Just for the record, this was my plan." Quill landed in front of Thanos, grinning. "Not so big and strong now, huh?" he mocked. "Where's Gamora?"

"My... Gamora..." Thanos struggled out.

"Oh, bullshit! Where is she?"

"H-he is in anguish," cried Mantis, feeling his pain through her powers.

"Good," stated Quill.

"He - he mourns..."

"What does this monster have to mourn?" demanded Drax.

"Gamora." Quill turned to Nebula who had spoken. "He took her to Vormir and came back with the Soul Stone. She didn't."

Quill's cockiness fell away, replaced by grief. Envy met her sister's eyes, Nebula's gaze only confirming it: Gamora was dead. "She told him where the Stone was so that he would stop torturing me."

"Okay, Quill," cautioned Stark. "You've gotta keep it together-" But Quill was clearly about to lose it. "Don't engage - we've almost got this off!"

"Tell me you didn't do it. Asshole!" Quill screamed in Thanos's face. "Tell me you didn't do it!"

"I... Had... To..."

"No you didn't. No, you didn't..." Quill was in tears now. "AH!" Taking one of his guns, he smashed the Titan in the face with it.

Envy dove in, grabbing Quill and literally dragging him away, but the damage had already been done, and Mantis's spell broken.

It took almost no time for Thanos to break free, sending the group flying. Using the Power Stone, he broke apart a moon hovering above them, sending the pieces crashing down upon them.

"I got you! I got you! And I got you-" Peter went swinging about, webbing everyone before they could fall. "I'm sorry, I can't remember anybody's names!"

Stephen and Thanos began a battle of magical elements, Mystic Arts vs. Infinity Stones.

Thanos blasted through Stephen's spell, dragging the doctor forwards and into a choke-hold. "You're full of tricks, wizard. But you never once used your greatest weapon-" He tore the Eye from around Stephen's neck and crushed it in a fist. "A fake. Classic."

Just as he was about to blast Stephen, a red and gold suit of armour landed before him. "You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna lose it."

Thanos observed him. "Stark."

Tony was taken aback. "You know me?"

"I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge."

"My only curse is you." With that, Stark flew forward, striking the Titan and knocking him back. Now it was their turn for a showdown.

During their fight, Stark managed to cut Thanos's cheek slightly.

"All that for a drop of blood," Thanos chuckled. "Well, I'm not the only one with blood to spill-"

In one swift movement, he snapped off the blade from Stark's suit and drove it through the man himself.

"Mr. Stark!" cried Peter.

"You have my respect, Stark," Thanos told him. "When I'm done, half of humanity will still exist. I hope they remember you." He held up his fist, ready to finish Stark off with a blast from the Stones.

"Stop!" He turned to face Stephen. "Spare his life, and I will give you the Stone."

"Stephen, no!"

"Kat, I'm sorry."

Her eyes pleaded with him, but he shook his head. A flash of anger and desperation crossed her face and she lunged towards Thanos, casting a spell, only to be held back by a spell cast by Stephen.

"You swore an oath!" she accused him.

"Don't," Tony told Stephen, agreeing with Kat. "I-I'm already dying-"

But Stephen was decided.

"No tricks." Thanos held out his hand for the Stone.

Stephen lifted his hand, the Time Stone appearing before he surrendered it to Thanos who grinned.

"One to go." In a flash of blue, the Titan disappeared.

A tense and shocked silence befell the group.

Quill came flying in. His mask dissolved away, revealing his alarmed expression, matching that of the others. "Did we just - _lose_?"

 _It's March, and you know what that means: 'Captain Marvel' this month and 'Avengers' next month! :D I am planning a 'Captain Marvel' story but I think I need to see the movie first to help me with more ideas and how it's going to play into this story!_

 _Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!_


	17. Snap!

Sixteen - Snap!

 _Wakanda - Earth_

"Oh yeah!" cheered Bruce as Thor gave a great battle cry and lit up the battlefield, literally, with his lightning. "You guys are so screwed now!"

There was no time to ask each other questions, as following the moment of surprise by Thor's grand entrance, the fight resumed. The group just kept on fighting, glad to have their old friend and ally the mighty God of Thunder back.

Thor had two creatures with him, one a raccoon with a gun, and the other a tree.

Groot impaled a bunch of aliens on a branch. _"I am Groot!"_

"I am Steve Rogers," Cap replied, thinking Groot was introducing himself.

Further down the field, Karen was zapping the aliens with her electric bracelets, when Thor came bursting in, taking out a group of them with his ax and lightning. He smiled and nodded to her. "Hello, Little Lightning."

"Just like old times, huh?" Nat called to the other Black Widow over the sound of Yelena's machine gun firing and the snarling of the alien creatures.

"Minus the aliens," was her reply.

" _Uh, we got incoming_ -" Sam's warning came over the radio.

His warning came almost too late, as large, round ships came crashing onto the field, crushing everything in their path and tearing up the earth.

Right before the ships could come crashing down upon them though, red energy swirls surrounded them, lifting them up and sending them back the way they came, taking out many of the aliens. Wanda had joined the fight!

"Why was she up there this whole time?" cried Okoye.

 _"Guys, we've got a Vision situation!_ " Sam alerted.

"On my way-" Wanda was cut off when she was knocked down by the female alien from the Black Order.

"He'll die alone, as will you," she sneered.

"But she's not alone." Wanda looked up to see Nat, Yelena, and Okoye had surrounded them.

"Looks like you're the one who's alone," Yelena stated to the alien.

Okoye swirled her spear, nodding to the other ladies who dove at their opponent, four-to-one.

The alien, Proxima Midnight, swung her blade at Nat, who blocked the blow with her batons, only to be forcefully shoved to the ground.

Red energy engulfed Proxima, obviously startling and confusing her, lifting her up into the air - right as one of the round ships passed by. Blue blood splattered around them.

Wanda fell to her knees, taking a breath.

"Natalia-" Yelena hurried over and helped Nat to her feet. "You all right?"

"Yeah." Nat was still breathing heavily after the fight. Some of the blue blood had splattered onto her face. "That was really gross."

"It sure was. Very brutal," Yelena agreed.

"Thanks, Wanda," said Nat.

"Thank you all," Wanda replied.

* * *

The fight seemed to still for a moment, and fall silent, only the faintest rustle of a breeze through the trees.

"What the hell?" remarked Nat.

"Something's happening," said Karen.

"Everyone, stand ready. On my mark," ordered Cap.

A rumble filled the air, everyone turning and watching as, up ahead, a blue light began to swirl, opening up a portal to reveal a purple-skinned, armoured giant. They didn't need to ask who this was, they had a good feeling they already knew.

They charged.

One-by-one, Thanos, seemingly effortlessly, took town each of the team members, who barely stood a chance against the nearly-completed Gauntlet. He brutally cut his way through the defenders, fighting to reach where Wanda was in the process of destroying Vision's Mind Stone, the final Stone that would complete the Gauntlet.

Thanos used the Power Stone to blast Bucky out of the way.

"Buck!" Karen jumped in, however, even her now vibranium-powered electric bracelets stood little chance against the power of the Stones.

Next Yelena tried, but her machine gun proved as useless as Bucky's had.

In a burst of flame, Kalyna flew it, striking the Gauntlet with another beam of fire. Now the three nearly-identical women stood together.

Thanos regarded the three. "Very curious." The only words he said to any of them. A single blast of the Power Stone sent the three flying out of his way.

Seeing that he was nearing them, Wanda held up her other hand towards him, holding him back with her powers while still trying to concentrate on destroying the Stone.

 _BLAST!_

In a burst of gold light that shook the ground, Wanda's powers shattered the Mind Stone. Wanda, exhausted and heartbroken, collapsed to the ground, in disbelief of what she had just done. _I'm sorry, Vis. I'm so sorry._

"I understand, Child," Thanos told her. "Better than anyone."

Wanda sneered up at him. "You could never."

"I have lost more today than you can ever know. But now is no time to mourn. Now, is no time at all-" He held up his fist, activating the Time Stone. With a turn of his hand, the shattered pieces of the Stone slowly began piecing back together, the Stone returning to Vision's forehead. Vision's eyes blinked open for a moment.

"NO!" screamed Wanda, and dove forward, but Thanos simply backhanded her, sending her crashing back to the ground. Then he seized Vision by the neck and forcefully pried the Stone from his vibranium forehead. Vision's body, now lifeless and colourless, dropped to the ground.

" _VIS_!" Wanda sobbed.

Thanos's dark eyes shone as he held it, the last of the Stones, and placed it in the final empty spot on the Gauntlet.

He gave a cry as the Stone at last joined the others, feeling a surge of pain that came with harnessing the power of all six Infinity Stones, even with the protection of the gauntlet, that power coursing through him. As the pain faded, a smile graced his lips. _I will see you soon, My Love._

His victory didn't last long, however.

There was a sharp flash of lightning and Thor launched his ax forward, Thanos meeting it with a blast from all six Stones. Stormbreaker broke through the blast from the Stones, and plunged right into Thanos's chest. Thor landed before the now injured and struck-down Titan, pressing the ax further into his chest, eliciting an agonized cry.

"I told you that you would die for what you did," Thor growled.

"Y-you're too late..." Thanos managed a chuckle, which turned into a pained cry as Thor pressed the ax again, deepening the already major wound, slowly drawing out the pain, just as Thanos had done when choking Loki.

"You shouldn't have done it."

Thanos ground out his next words. "And you should have gone for the head-"

"What-"

Thanos's only answer was lifting his hand baring the gauntlet-

"NO!"

Thor's cry was cut off and drowned out as Thanos snapped his fingers.

 _Snap!_

 ** _Exactly one month until 'Endgame' folks! :D so here's another chapter!_**

 ** _Just to let you know I've started a 'Captain Marvel' story, and my OC in that story will play a role in the 'Endgame' part of this story - just thought I would let you know! :) You don't have to read that one, but there will be references to it in my 'Endgame' one, so it might make a little more sense._**

 ** _I'm still trying to decide whether I should keep it all one story like I was originally going to do or divide the story into two parts like the movies... But I've got to decide soon as I'm almost done the first part and 'Endgame' is getting so close!_**

 ** _As always, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_**


	18. Aftermath

Seventeen - Aftermath

 _Wakanda - Earth_

"What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" But Thanos vanished. In a flash of blue light, the Space Stone carried the wounded Titan away, leaving everyone equally uncertain and uneasy about what had just happened.

The next few tense moments crawled by, time seeming to have slowed, or stopped altogether. They were long, agonizing moments full of fearful waiting to see what would happen.

Everyone was reconvening when disaster struck.

"Steve-" The gun fell from Bucky's hand as his hand faded away, followed by his arm, and the rest of his body. He had vanished, right in front of them.

"Buck?"

Karen was helping Sam to his feet, when suddenly, his weight that she was supporting fell away, and he vanished too.

"My Love." T'Challa was helping Kalyna to her feet. "Up," he urged. Next he reached out to Okoye, also to help her. "Up, General, up. This is no place to die-" He was cut off as he faded away too, both women he had been supporting stumbling, caught off-guard by what had just happened.

All around them, people on the battle field were disappearing without a trace, simply vanishing, without warning. And there seemed to be no pattern, but instead random.

Steve collapsed to the ground next to Vision's lifeless, colourless body where just moments ago Wanda had sat. "My God."

They barely had a moment to absorb what had happened, what was happening, when, all at once, Karen, Kalyna, and Yelena all collapsed, at the same time, just falling to the ground with no warning, not fading away like the others.

No one said anything. No one had anything to say. It was becoming frighteningly clear though.

They had failed their mission.

Thanos had won, and they had lost.

* * *

Back on Titan, the group was recovering, also all trying to absorb Stephen's actions and what that meant now, for them, and everything.

Kat wouldn't look at him. "You've doomed us all."

"Kat, trust me. Please." He remained strangely calm.

"I did trust you."

"Why did you do that?" Stark asked Stephen. "You said you wouldn't hesitate to let any of us die if it meant protecting the Stone."

"I know what I said. But it was the only way."

"There's always another way!" Kat cried, snapping at him.

He shook his head. "Not this time. We're in the endgame now. Remember that."

"Uh, Mr. Stark - I-I don't feel so good..." Peter stumbled forward, Stark catching him.

"Kid? Pete, you all right?"

"W-what's going on?"

"Something's happening," cried Mantis. Immediately following her words all the Guardians, minus Nebula, faded away, as well as Stephen.

"I-I-" It looked as though Peter was about to throw up. "Mr. Stark-" The boy clung to him desperately. "Mr. - Mr. Stark? I-I don't want to go, I don't want to go. Mr. Stark, please - I'm sorry..." And suddenly, Peter was gone too, faded away.

"O-oh n-no-" Kat stumbled forward, eyes wide. "What's going on? I can't see! What's happening?" Now was the worst possible time for her blindness to return. She was crying, waving her arms out trying locate something or someone, her scarred eyes now squeezed shut.

"Ms. Ekaterina? We're here - please try not to panic," Tony tried to comfort her, although panic was exactly what he was trying not to do himself right then and there.

"He did it," breathed Nebula. "He really did it."

"The balance is in effect," whispered Envy.

In unison, all three nearly-identical women collapsed.

* * *

"Still no word from Stark?" Fury asked from the driver's seat, driving through the streets of New York.

"No, not yet," replied Maria Hill, from the passenger's seat. "We're watching every satellite on both hemispheres, but still nothing."

"Hmm." Fury cast a glance through the rear-view mirror into the back seat. "You got Stark and Banner's research on the Stones that I sent you, Doc?"

"Yup, got it," the English woman replied.

Right then, the device in Hill's hand began beeping.

"What is it?"

"Multiple bogeys - over Wakanda."

"Some energy signature as here in New York?" Fury asked.

"Yeah, only these are ten times bigger."

Fury sighed. "Tell Klein we'll meet him-"

"Nick - NICK!"

An SUV had suddenly skidded and spun out into the lane, across the road in front of them, slamming into the curb. Fury hit the breaks and he and Hill cautiously got out of their own car. "Stay here, Doc," he warned. "They okay?" he asked Hill who inspected the crashed car.

"There's no one here," she answered, baffled at the empty driver's seat.

 _CRASH!_ Their attention was immediately pulled to a helicopter flying dangerously low, spinning out of control just as the SUV had been, before crashing into the side of a building.

This struck up commotion in the streets, with people suddenly starting to run and shout.

"Call control," Fury cried. "Code red."

"Nick-" He turned to face Hill just in time to see her fade away before his eyes, turning to what looked like dust.

What the hell was happening?

"Doc, you all right?" he called into the car.

"Yeah, what's happening?" she cried.

"Emergency - you know what that means-"

"What-"

Fury raced around the side of the car and reached into his bag, withdrawing an outdated-looking pager, hurriedly pressing the button.

"Oh no. Mother Fu-" he began, but was cut off when he too quickly faded away.

The pager dropped from his hands and onto the road, surrounded by the sudden commotion.

The woman quickly exited the car, finding herself in amongst the commotion, Fury and Hill suddenly gone, people becoming nothing but dust all around her. She immediately looked down at her hands to see if the same fate had befallen her, but she seemed all right, still intact, at least for now. Maybe something to do with her powers?

But there was no time to ponder. She knelt down to retrieve Fury's pager from where it lay on the road, beeping softly, a red light blinking in time to the beeping near the bottom of the screen. The word SENDING... blinked in the centre of the pixelated screen. What was this? Sending what? Sending to who?

Moments later an image blinked across the screen, answering her question.

The gold star and red and blue stripes told her everything.

 _The day-by-day countdown has officially begun! :D 'Endgame' this month! Finally!_

 _For those of you who may be reading my Carol love story, the character in the scene with Nick and Hill here is my character Nora :) She'll play a roll in the 'Endgame' part of this story. Carol's coming back! Can't wait to see her in 'Endgame' alongside all the others! :D So excited!_

 _So sorry for making you all relive the snapping away of everyone :( But finally we get to see Thanos's ulterior motive to finding the Stones in the next chapter - see you there! ;)_

 _And on a side-note, school is finished so I should be more regular with updating :)_ Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)


	19. My Love

Eighteen - My Love

 _The Soul World, the Soul Stone - Location Unknown_

Thanos managed a smirk, despite the pain in his chest brought by the god's weapon, a pain that obviously creased his features. "You... Should have gone for the head-"

It was clear his words confused the Asgardian, that was, until he raised his hand baring the now full and completed Gauntlet, and snapped his fingers.

The God of Thunder's shout of "NO!" was drowned out by a deafening ring and everything was consumed by a bright, rainbow light as the Stones worked together to fulfill his command.

Immediately following, he found himself elsewhere, in an unfamiliar place. All it was was a vast orange landscape, stretching as far as the eye could see.

His arm was still raised in the snap, although he no longer wore the gauntlet. And reaching down to touch his chest, he found there was no wound left by the ax.

Was he dreaming?

This seemed to be an honest thought and possibility when he saw her, standing a distance from him, her small figure framed by one of the gates of her home world.

Slowly, he approached, afraid she would vanish. "Daughter?"

She stared up at him. "Did you do it?" A pause. "Did you do it?"

"Yes..."

There was a flash of sadness in her eyes, and obvious tears. "And, what did it cost?"

"Everything," he admitted.

She said nothing more, only continued to stare saddened up at him.

And suddenly, as if he had never been there at all, he was back on Earth, Thor before him, ax still buried in his chest.

The god was staring at him in disbelief. "What did you do?!" he demanded. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" This time it was a roar.

Thanos did not answer him. Thor was stunned enough to allow him a window of escape - Thanos himself barely had a moment to assess the result of the snap. Using the Space Stone he carried himself away, not sure where he was headed. The Stone knew where to take him, though, and so he let it carry him away.

There was another blinding flash, much like after his snap. When it faded, he found himself once again in the orange landscape, this time with the deep cut in his chest, and still wearing the Gauntlet, which was now cracked and broken. It was of little matter now, however, for it had served its purpose.

At least, some of its purpose.

The snap had occurred, just as he had promised for so long, and to the best of his knowledge, it had been successful. However, now that they had been reunited, the Stones had one more purpose to serve, their natural purpose, one which he had no control over but wanted to see succeed as much as his mission.

Now the landscape was absolutely bare, the Zen-Whoberi gate and Gamora were gone, leaving the landscape barren and empty, seemingly endless orange planes. He was alone.

He was not alone, for long, however.

There was a surging from his left arm, gaining his attention, all the Stones, reunited at long last, humming together in unison, glowing brighter and brighter.

Red. Orange. Purple. Green. Blue. Yellow.

Reality. Soul. Power. Time. Space. Mind.

All the essential elements of existence, coming together once again to reform their single, embodied soul, the Keeper of the Infinity Stones herself, Lady Infinity.

Up ahead, a swirl of coloured light was forming in response to the Stones glowing together in perfect unison. Perfect balance, one might even say.

Colours whipped around, forming what looked like a portal of some sort up ahead a ways. Then, slowly but surely, the outline of a figure appeared. A female figure, her hair and cape floating behind her.

His heart leapt, her name catching in his throat. _Adonia_. "My Love?"

There was a final burst of bright light and colour, almost too bright, and suddenly, there she was, before him, as bright and as brilliant and he remembered her to be, striding forward towards him, alive and well, arms outstretched towards him, welcoming him. Her eyes, lights themselves, glowed brightly as they fell upon him.

"Thanos, My Love. Did you miss me?" A smirk crawled up her lips.

 _Happy 'Avengers: Endgame' everyone! :D At long last, it's finally here (just like Adonia ;))_ _So it's just a little tease, but there she is! ;) I know she barely appeared at all here, but she will be at the centre of the sequel, which will pick up right where we left off (and which I am starting right away! And don't worry, I'll put up appropriate spoiler warnings where there needs to be!)_

 _Thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	20. To Be Continued-Concluded

**To Be Continued/Concluded...**

The story continues...

 _For Eternity_

Part of the journey is the end...

"Thanos did exactly what he said he was going to."

And more...


End file.
